NIGHTLY READING THREAD: Welcome to Edition #31 of #GMGReads. Every night through this weird time, I'm tweeting out a list of my five favorite books around a general theme—and a link to an indie bookstore where you can order them online....
I've read a lot over the last two years about the Vietnam War, prior to which I knew very little about. Over the next two nights, I wanted to share some of my favorite books on Vietnam—beginning tonight with stories about combat and the war itself....
PS: I've previously featured in #GMGReads two of the great epic novels to come out of the war, MATTERHORN and TREE OF SMOKE, both of which I also recommend:
1) Joe Galloway's book, with General Hal Moore, WE WERE SOLDIERS ONCE ... AND YOUNG is a classic about the early combat in 1965 at Ia Drang that really launched the war: bookshop.org/books/we-were-…
2) Philip Caputo's A RUMOR OF WAR is a powerful war memoir bookshop.org/books/a-rumor-… and similarly James Webb's novel FIELDS OF FIRE is as good a ground-level perspective on the war as you'll fine bookshop.org/books/fields-o…
3) Michael Herr's DISPATCHES is some awe-inspiring war reportage, harkening back to the glory days of @esquire: bookshop.org/books/dispatch…
4) While we normally think of Vietnam as all jungle fighting, Mark Bowden's HUE 1968 describes the incredible urban combat in the imperial capital that made up the war's biggest battle: bookshop.org/books/hue-1968…
5) Tim O'Brien wrote not one but two incredible, deeply memorable and almost poetic books about the war, THE THINGS THEY CARRIED: bookshop.org/books/the-thin… and GOING AFTER CACCIATO: bookshop.org/books/going-af…
Those are tonight's #GMGReads. Coming tomorrow night: Books on the politics around the Vietnam War. What are your favorite books on Vietnam or other war reporting, memoirs, or tales of combat? What are your favorite indie bookstores? Share! #avidreadersunite
