Author Duke Barrett’s The Wall of Broken Dreams is an epic, dreamlike panorama of war, adventure and loss – a true and personal homage to the men who lost so much in the Vietnam War. This ambitious novel has a sweeping scope and allows a complete under-the-skin understanding of what it was to fight, fear, [...]

Cherries – A Novel by John Podlaski, 2010 Author John Podlaski contacted me personally and kindly let me have a look at his gripping and highly authentic Vietnam war novel, Cherries (aff). I made it out to be a really intense grunt’s-eye ride through the whole Vietnam GI experience, with no detail spared. Written with [...]

Going After Cacciato – Tim O’Brien, 1979 Tim O’Brien’s acclaimed Vietnam novel traces a squad whose task it is to retrieve the footloose Cacciato, a young grunt who’s seemingly just wandered off cross country with the aim of making it to Paris. This novel is pretty dreamlike in places, but really has some terrific descriptions [...]

Fields of Fire – James Webb, 1978 James Webb’s Vietnam novel is an involving and compulsive read written by an author with a complete mastery of characterization. This is rough, gory frontline battle writing at its best, authentic and unforgiving. Definitely an adult read, the plot of Fields of Fire (aff) is forged around a [...]

Matterhorn – Karl Marlantes, 2011 This bestselling, and some would say definitive Vietnam novel has garnered remarkable praise since its release (“I was living and dying in Vietnam with Bravo Company” – The Times) and was written by a man who was himself stationed in Vietnam during the conflict. The work is the breathless story [...]