Philip Caputo
This is a very good book. This is the memoir of Philip Caputo, a lieutenant in the Marines during the Vietnam War. His story is odd, as he managed to be both one of the first Marines in Vietnam and was evacuated by helicopter in Saigon's final days, although by then he was a civilian. The book is interesting because it reflects Caputo's changing opinions of the war in a way that mirror the impressions of the nation during these conflicts (coughIraq). It was written after Caputo had seen combat, but the book was begun only a year after he left. Though the book gets preachy in parts (and here I am thinking of All Quiet on the Western Front, which definitely benefits thematically from its author's removal from the war by a decade), it still maintains a raw honesty.
Caputo is brutally honest, in fact, and the book will likely turn you against Vietnam and war in general. Here is another story about an enthusiastic young band of soldiers turned into weary veterans in the course of just a few months. Caputo does an excellent job of illuminating the theme of lost innocence, and for someone looking for an idea about the actual conditions of Vietnam in the lucid prose of a veteran, this book is it.
Grade: A
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