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Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > War fiction > Vietnam War fiction
The million-copy bestseller, which is a ground-breaking meditation
on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of
storytelling. 'The Things They Carried' is, on its surface, a
sequence of award-winning stories about the madness of the Vietnam
War; at the same time it has the cumulative power and unity of a
novel, with recurring characters and interwoven strands of plot and
theme. But while Vietnam is central to 'The Things They Carried',
it is not simply a book about war. It is also a book about the
human heart - about the terrible weight of those things we carry
through our lives.
From the International Booker Prize shortlisted author of The Order
of the Day and The War of the Poor comes a searing account of a
conflict that dealt a fatal blow to French colonialism 'Absolutely
spectacular' - France Info 'Scathing and clever' - Le Temps 19
October 1950. The war is not going to plan. In Paris, politicians
gather to discuss what to do about Indochina. The conflict is
unpopular back home in France: too expensive, and too far away for
the public to care. Withdrawal is not an option - a global power
cannot surrender to an army of peasants - but victory is impossible
without more soldiers and more money. The soldiers can be sourced
from the colonies, but the money is out of the question. A solution
needs to be found. In this gripping and shocking novel, Eric
Vuillard exposes the tangled web of politicians, bankers and titans
of industry who all had a vested interest in France's prolonged
presence in lands far from Paris. Skilfully skewering the guilty,
Vuillard shows us how key players in conflicts throughout history
often have a motivation even deeper and darker than nationalism and
political ideology-greed. As well as bringing scenes from the
battlefields to life, Vuillard looks beyond this visceral reality
on the ground to the cold calculations of the boardroom elite with
the power to turn a military win or loss into their financial gain.
Short, sharp and brutal, An Honourable Exit is a journey behind
closed doors to witness how history is really made.
aA stirring tribute to the valor of Marines in Vietnam.a (
Nathaniel Fick, "New York Times" bestselling author of "One Bullet
Away")
Thursday, October 12, 1967:
Marine Lance Corporal Kevin Cahill stepped onto a trail deep in
the remote Hai Lang National Forest in South Vietnam. Following
Cahill were the Marines of Charlie Company, First Battalion, First
Marines, First Marine Division. They would find hell on earth under
the jungle canopy. Ambushed, surrounded, outnumbered, out-gunned,
and quickly running low on ammunition, the marines of Operation
Medina fought toe-to-toe with a ferocious, determined opponent.
Based on extensive interviews with survivors of Operation Medina,
as well as with the friends and families of the men who didnat make
it back, "Lions of Medina" takes readers through the tragedy and
triumphs of war, and into the heart of a close-knit group of
warriors who fought, bled, and died together, and the spirit of
loyalty and camaraderie that binds them to this day.
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Dust Child
(Paperback)
Nguyen Phan Que Mai
|
R406
R334
Discovery Miles 3 340
Save R72 (18%)
|
Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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'Dazzling. Sharply drawn and hauntingly beautiful.' Elif Shafak,
Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Island of Missing Trees In
1969, two sisters from rural Vi?t Nam leave their parents' home and
travel to the bustling city of Sai Gon. Soon their lives are swept
up in the unstoppable flames of a war that is blazing through their
country. They begin working as 'bar girls' in one of the drinking
dens frequented by American GIs, forced to accept that survival now
might mean compromising the values they once clung to. Decades
later, two men wander through the streets and marketplaces of a
very different Sai Gon: modern, forward-looking, healing. But
neither of these men can escape the shadow of decisions made by
themselves and others during a time of war. Through the interwoven
stories of these four unforgettable characters, Dust Child exposes
the devastating legacy of conflict, and asks what it takes to move
forward. Heartfelt, suspenseful and poetic, this is Nguy?n Phan Qu?
Mai at her very best.
An odyssey of loss and salvation ranging across four generations of
fathers and sons, in the finest tradition of American storytelling.
The year is 1966 and a young man named Vollie Frade, almost on a
whim, enlists in the United States Marine Corps to fight in
Vietnam. Breaking definitively from his rural Iowan parents, Vollie
puts in motion a chain of events that sees him go to work for
people with intentions he cannot yet grasp. From the Cambodian
jungle, to a flophouse in Queens, to a commune in New Mexico,
Vollie's path traces a secret history of life on the margins of
America, culminating with an inevitable and terrible reckoning.
Scibona's story of a restless soldier pressed into service for a
clandestine branch of the US government unfolds against the
backdrop of the seismic shifts in global politics of the second
half of the twentieth century. Epic in scope but intimate in
feeling, this is a deeply immersive read from a rising star of
American fiction.
A beautiful, powerful and utterly devastating novel from
Orange-prize shortlisted author Georgina Harding 'Georgina
Harding's novel is the finely tuned work of a writer exceptionally
at ease with her craft and a testament to the power and poetry of
clean and disciplined prose' Guardian The memory of war will stay
with a man longer than anything else. Dawn, mist clearing over rice
fields, a burning Vietnamese village, and a young photographer
takes the shot that might make his career. The image, of a staring
soldier in the midst of mayhem, will become one of the great
photographs of the war. But what Jonathan has seen in that village
is more than he can bear... He flees to Japan, to lose himself in
the vastness of Tokyo, and to take different kinds of pictures: of
streets and crowds and cherry blossom - and of a girl with whom he
is no longer lost. Yet even here his history will catch up with
him: that photograph and his responsibility in taking it; his
responsibility as a witness to war, and to other events buried deep
in his past. The first in Harding's cycle of acclaimed novels on
themes of witness, memory and silence, The Gun Room is beautiful,
powerful and utterly devastating.
Private William Mandella is a reluctant hero in an interstellar war
against an unknowable and unconquerable alien enemy. But his
greatest test will be when he returns home. Relativity means that
for every few months' tour of duty centuries have passed on Earth,
isolating the combatants ever more from the world for whose future
they are fighting. The Earth he knew is dead. The one he returns to
. . . unrecognisable. Winner of the Nebula, Locus and Hugo awards,
The Forever War was the first title selected for the SF Masterworks
series when it launched in 1999. Inspired by Haldeman's experience
in the Vietnam War, it has been seen as a critical work of anti-war
SF. 'This is an enraged and enraging classic that deserves a place
alongside Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter as an expression of
the pain caused by Vietnam'- Guardian 'The book is near perfect'-
infinity plus 'This book is not only one of the best military
science fiction books ever written, but is one of the finest works
of modern American literature' - Tordotcom Welcome to The Best Of
The Masterworks: a selection of the finest in science fiction
After sixty-eight-year-old David Granger crashes his BMW, medical tests reveal a brain tumor that he readily attributes to his wartime Agent Orange exposure. He wakes up from surgery repeating a name no one in his civilian life has ever heard - that of a Native American soldier whom he was once ordered to discipline. David decides to return something precious he long ago stole from the man he now calls Clayton Fire Bear. It might be the only way to find closure in a world increasingly at odds with the one he served to protect. It might also help him finally recover from his wife's untimely demise.
As David confronts his past to salvage his present, a poignant portrait emerges: that of an opinionated and goodhearted American patriot fighting like hell to stay true to his red, white, and blue heart, even as the country he loves rapidly changes in ways he doesn't always like or understand. Hanging in the balance are Granger's distant art-dealing son, Hank; his adoring seven-year-old granddaughter, Ella; and his best friend, Sue, a Vietnamese-American who respects David's fearless sincerity.
Through the controversial, wrenching, and wildly honest David Granger, Matthew Quick offers a no-nonsense but ultimately hopeful view of America's polarized psyche. By turns irascible and hilarious, insightful and inconvenient, David is a complex, wounded, honorable, and ultimately loving man. The Reason You're Alive examines how the secrets and debts we carry from our past define us; it also challenges us to look beyond our own prejudices and search for the good in our supposed enemies.
Winner of the Blogger's Book Prize, 2021 Shortlisted for the
People's Book Prize, 2021 Winner of Best Literary Fiction and Best
Multicultural Fiction at American Book Fest International Book
Awards, 2021 'An epic account of Viet Nam's painful 20th-century
history, both vast in scope and intimate in its telling... Moving
and riveting.' Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of
The Sympathizer Selected as a Best Book of 2020 by NB Magazine *
BookBrowse * Buzz Magazine * NPR * Washington Independent Review of
Books * Real Simple * She Reads * A Hindu's View * Thoughts from a
Page One family, two generations of women and a war that will
change their lives forever Ha Noi, 1972. Huong and her grandmother,
Tran Dieu Lan, cling to one another in their improvised shelter as
American bombs fall around them. For Tran Dieu Lan, forced to flee
the family farm with her six children decades earlier as the
Communist government rose to power in the North, this experience is
horribly familiar. Seen through the eyes of these two unforgettable
women, The Mountains Sing captures their defiance and
determination, hope and unexpected joy. Vivid, gripping, and
steeped in the language and traditions of Viet Nam, celebrated
Vietnamese poet Nguyen's richly lyrical debut weaves between the
lives of a grandmother and granddaughter to paint a unique picture
of a country pushed to breaking point, and a family who refuse to
give up. 'Devastating... From the French and Japanese occupations
to the Indochina wars, The Great Hunger, land reform and the
Vietnam War, it's a story of resilience, determination, family and
hope in a country blighted by pain.' Refinery29
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Dust Child
(Hardcover)
Nguyen Phan Que Mai
|
R531
R436
Discovery Miles 4 360
Save R95 (18%)
|
Ships in 9 - 15 working days
|
|
'Dazzling. Sharply drawn and hauntingly beautiful.' Elif Shafak,
Women's Prize-shortlisted author of The Island of Missing Trees In
1969, two sisters from rural Viet Nam leave their parents' home and
travel to the bustling city of Sai Gon. Soon their lives are swept
up in the unstoppable flames of a war that is blazing through their
country. They begin working as 'bar girls' in one of the drinking
dens frequented by American GIs, forced to accept that survival now
might mean compromising the values they once treasured. Decades
later, two men wander through the streets and marketplaces of a
very different Sai Gon: modern, forward-looking, healing. Phong -
the son of a Black American soldier and a Vietnamese woman -
embarks on a search to find his parents and a way out of Viet Nam,
while Dan, a war veteran, hopes that retracing the steps of his
youth will ease the PTSD that has plagued him for decades. When the
lives of these unforgettable characters converge, each is forced to
reckon with the explosive events of history that still ripple
through their lives. Now they must work out what it takes to move
forward in this richly poetic saga from Nguyen Phan Que Mai at her
very best.
In this anthology, Vietnamese writers describe their experience of
what they call the American War and its lasting legacy through the
lens of their own vital artistic visions. A North Vietnamese
soldier forms a bond with an abandoned puppy. Cousins find their
lives upended by the revelation that their fathers fought on
opposite sides of the war. Two lonely veterans in Hanoi meet years
after the war has ended through a newspaper dating service. A
psychic assists the search for the body of a long-vanished soldier.
The father of a girl suffering from dioxin poisoning struggles with
corrupt local officials. The twenty short stories collected in
Other Moons range from the intensely personal to narratives that
deal with larger questions of remembrance, trauma, and healing. By
a diverse set of authors, including many veterans, they span styles
from social realism to tales of the fantastic. Yet whether
describing the effects of Agent Orange exposure or telling ghost
stories, all speak to the unresolved legacy of a conflict that
still haunts Vietnam. Among the most widely anthologized and
popular pieces of short fiction about the war in Vietnam, these
works appear here for the first time in English. Other Moons offers
Anglophone audiences an unparalleled opportunity to experience how
the Vietnamese think and write about the conflict that consumed
their country from 1954 to 1975-a perspective still largely missing
from American narratives.
'Fantastic' The Sunday Times 'Marvellous... Hugely impressive'
Guardian 'Beautiful, brilliant, powerful' Madeline Miller,
bestselling author of Circe Two young Vietnamese women go missing
decades apart. Both are fearless, both are lost. And both will have
their revenge. 1986: The teenage daughter of a wealthy Vietnamese
family gets lost in an abandoned rubber plantation while fleeing
her angry father, and is forever changed by the experience. 2011:
Twenty-five years later, a young, unhappy Vietnamese-American
disappears from her new home in Saigon without a trace. The fates
of both women are inescapably linked, bound together by past
generations, by ghosts and ancestors, by the history of possessed
bodies and possessed lands. Violet Kupersmith's heart-pounding
fever dream of a novel hurtles through the ghostly secrets of
Vietnamese history to create an immersive, playful, utterly
unforgettable debut. 'Fiction as daring and accomplished as Violet
Kupersmith's first novel reignites my love of the form and its
kaleidoscopic possibilities' David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas
An odyssey of loss and salvation ranging across four generations of
fathers and sons, in the finest tradition of American storytelling.
The year is 1966 and a young man named Vollie Frade, almost on a
whim, enlists in the United States Marine Corps to fight in
Vietnam. Breaking definitively from his rural Iowan parents, Vollie
puts in motion a chain of events that sees him go to work for
people with intentions he cannot yet grasp. From the Cambodian
jungle, to a flophouse in Queens, to a commune in New Mexico,
Vollie's path traces a secret history of life on the margins of
America, culminating with an inevitable and terrible reckoning.
Scibona's story of a restless soldier pressed into service for a
clandestine branch of the US government unfolds against the
backdrop of the seismic shifts in global politics of the second
half of the twentieth century. Epic in scope but intimate in
feeling, this is a deeply immersive read from a rising star of
American fiction.
The realities of a futile campaign are portrayed in this novel of
the Vietnam War. The action ranges from the White House to the
jungle, from the American Embassy in Saigon to the front lines.
Michael Peterson has also written "The Immortal Dragon". If you're
looking for a Vietnam War novel, but you don't want to wade in too
deep, this is perfect lightweight fare. Think of it as a cross
between Tom Clancy and Graham Greene (see Orrin's review of The
Quiet American)with the civil servant as superhero trying to
navigate a moral cesspool. Bradley Lawrence Marshall is the blue
blood, war hero, diplomat who is sent to Vietnam as the personal
emissary of President Johnson, to find a way out. In country, he
meets with real figures like General Westmoreland, who tries to
convince him everything is copacetic. But he also meets folks like:
his driver, Corporal Mead, a decent though violent American lad of
ambiguous sexuality, who is sick of the war; Lacouture, a
flamboyant, Guy Burgess-like, Frenchman who sells information to
all sides and loves Mead; and the insidious CIA station chief,
Wilson Abbot Lord, who lives to fight the Communists and, fearing
that Marshall will end the war, plots to kill him. And it's all set
against the backdrop of the Tet Offensive. The whole premise, of
Johnson and a bureaucrat secretly planning an exit strategy,
doesn't withstand much scrutiny and the stereotypes and cliches run
rampant. But taken on its own terms, as a sort of politico-military
potboiler with only mild pretensions of addressing issues in any
serious way, it succeeds pretty well. It's certainly a more
diverting read than many of the more critically acclaimed novels of
the war.
This is the definitive story of one of the longest and most
controversial conflicts in US history. Created in association with
the Smithsonian Institution, this authoritative history of the
Vietnam War examines the key figures and events of the conflict,
and its lasting effects on the world. This history book for adults
combines compelling text with maps and archive photography, A Short
History of the Vietnam War is an all-encompassing showcase of every
aspect of the fighting and the wider political landscape, from the
struggle for civil rights to the treatment of prisoners. Inside the
pages of this retelling of America's bloodiest conflict, you'll
discover: - Vivid, moving, and informative details of the Vietnam
war, including eyewitness accounts and iconic photographs - A clear
and compelling account of the conflict, in short, self-contained
events from the Battle of Ia Drang to the Tet Offensive and The
Khmer Rouge - Biography spreads highlighting major military and
political figures - Features on everyday life in the war offering
additional context - Stunning image spreads displaying weapons, spy
gear, and other equipment that defined the war - Maps and feature
boxes provide additional information on major events during the
conflict Detailed descriptions of events, from Operation Passage to
Freedom to the evacuation of the US embassy in Saigon, are brought
to life with eyewitness accounts and iconic photographs. Gallery
pages present collections of infantry weapons, artillery, aircraft,
and armoured vehicles, while diagrams and maps show exactly how
battles and decisive moments unfolded, and biographical entries
provide essential insight into the roles of significant individuals
from Henry Kissinger to General Thieu. The perfect read for the
military history enthusiast, A Short History of the Vietnam War is
a stirring visual record of the suffering, sacrifice, and heroism
that occurred in America's bloodiest ever conflicts.
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The Wrong Goodbye
(Paperback)
Toshihiko Yahagi; Translated by Alfred Birnbaum
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R469
R385
Discovery Miles 3 850
Save R84 (18%)
|
Ships in 9 - 15 working days
|
|
A classic slice of Japanese hard-boiled noir paying homage to the
master of the genre: Raymond Chandler The Wrong Goodbye pits
homicide detective Eiji Futamura against a shady Chinese business
empire and U.S. military intelligence in the docklands of recession
Japan. After the frozen corpse of immigrant barman Tran Binh Long
washes up in midsummer near Yokosuka U.S. Navy Base, Futamura meets
a strange customer from Tran's bar. Vietnam vet pilot Billy Lou
Bonney talks Futamura into hauling three suitcases of "goods" to
Yokota US Air Base late at night and flies off leaving a dead woman
behind. Thereby implicated in a murder suspect's escape and
relieved from active duty, Futamura takes on hack work for the
beautiful concert violinist Aileen Hsu, a "boat people" orphan
whose Japanese adoption mother has mysteriously gone missing. And
now a phone call from a bestselling yakuza author, a one-time black
marketeer in Saigon, hints at inside information on "former
Vietcong mole" Tran and his "old sidekick" Billy Lou, both of whom
crossed a triad tycoon who is buying up huge tracts of Mekong Delta
marshland for a massive development scheme. As the loose strands
flashback to Vietnam, the string of official lies and mysterious
allegiances build into a dark picture of the U.S.-Japan postwar
alliance. Translated from the Japanese by Alfred Birnbaum
In this anthology, Vietnamese writers describe their experience of
what they call the American War and its lasting legacy through the
lens of their own vital artistic visions. A North Vietnamese
soldier forms a bond with an abandoned puppy. Cousins find their
lives upended by the revelation that their fathers fought on
opposite sides of the war. Two lonely veterans in Hanoi meet years
after the war has ended through a newspaper dating service. A
psychic assists the search for the body of a long-vanished soldier.
The father of a girl suffering from dioxin poisoning struggles with
corrupt local officials. The twenty short stories collected in
Other Moons range from the intensely personal to narratives that
deal with larger questions of remembrance, trauma, and healing. By
a diverse set of authors, including many veterans, they span styles
from social realism to tales of the fantastic. Yet whether
describing the effects of Agent Orange exposure or telling ghost
stories, all speak to the unresolved legacy of a conflict that
still haunts Vietnam. Among the most widely anthologized and
popular pieces of short fiction about the war in Vietnam, these
works appear here for the first time in English. Other Moons offers
Anglophone audiences an unparalleled opportunity to experience how
the Vietnamese think and write about the conflict that consumed
their country from 1954 to 1975-a perspective still largely missing
from American narratives.
|
The Wrong Goodbye
(Paperback)
Toshihiko Yahagi; Translated by Alfred Birnbaum
|
R311
R255
Discovery Miles 2 550
Save R56 (18%)
|
Ships in 9 - 15 working days
|
|
A classic slice of Japanese hard-boiled noir paying homage to the
master of the genre: Raymond Chandler The Wrong Goodbye pits
homicide detective Eiji Futamura against a shady Chinese business
empire and U.S. military intelligence in the docklands of recession
Japan. After the frozen corpse of immigrant barman Tran Binh Long
washes up in midsummer near Yokosuka U.S. Navy Base, Futamura meets
a strange customer from Tran's bar. Vietnam vet pilot Billy Lou
Bonney talks Futamura into hauling three suitcases of "goods" to
Yokota US Air Base late at night and flies off leaving a dead woman
behind. Thereby implicated in a murder suspect's escape and
relieved from active duty, Futamura takes on hack work for the
beautiful concert violinist Aileen Hsu, a "boat people" orphan
whose Japanese adoption mother has mysteriously gone missing. And
now a phone call from a bestselling yakuza author, a one-time black
marketeer in Saigon, hints at inside information on "former
Vietcong mole" Tran and his "old sidekick" Billy Lou, both of whom
crossed a triad tycoon who is buying up huge tracts of Mekong Delta
marshland for a massive development scheme. As the loose strands
flashback to Vietnam, the string of official lies and mysterious
allegiances build into a dark picture of the U.S.-Japan postwar
alliance. Translated from the Japanese by Alfred Birnbaum
'Fantastic' The Sunday Times 'Marvellous... Hugely impressive'
Guardian 'Beautiful, brilliant, powerful' Madeline Miller,
bestselling author of Circe Two young Vietnamese women go missing
decades apart. Both are fearless, both are lost. And both will have
their revenge. 1986: The teenage daughter of a wealthy Vietnamese
family gets lost in an abandoned rubber plantation while fleeing
her angry father, and is forever changed by the experience. 2011:
Twenty-five years later, a young, unhappy Vietnamese-American
disappears from her new home in Saigon without a trace. The fates
of both women are inescapably linked, bound together by past
generations, by ghosts and ancestors, by the history of possessed
bodies and possessed lands. Violet Kupersmith's heart-pounding
fever dream of a novel hurtles through the ghostly secrets of
Vietnamese history to create an immersive, playful, utterly
unforgettable debut. 'Fiction as daring and accomplished as Violet
Kupersmith's first novel reignites my love of the form and its
kaleidoscopic possibilities' David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas
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