A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo
In March of 1965, Marine Lieutenant Philip J. Caputo landed at Danang with the first ground combat unit deployed to Vietnam. Sixteen months later, having served on the line in one of modern history's ugliest wars, he returned home -- physically whole but emotionally wasted, his youthful idealism forever gone. A Rumor of War is far more than one soldier's story. Upon its publication in 1977, it shattered America's indifference to the fate of the men sent to fight in the jungles of Vietnam. In the years since then, it has become not only a basic text on the Vietnam War but also a renowned classic in the literature of wars throughout history and, as the author writes, of the things men do in war and the things war does to men. To call it the best book about Vietnam is to trivialize it. . . . A Rumor of War is a dangerous and even subversive book, the first to insist -- and the insistence is all the more powerful because it is implicit -- that the reader ask himself these questions: How would I have acted? To what lengths would I have gone to survive? The sense of self is assaulted, overcome, subverted, leaving the reader to contemplate the deadening possibility that his own moral safety net might have a hole in it. It is a terrifying thought, and A Rumor of War is a terrifying book. -- John Gregory Dunne, Los Angeles Times Book Review Caputo's troubled, searching meditations on the love and hate of war, on fear, and the ambivalent discord warfare can create in the hearts of decent men, are among the most eloquent I have read in modern literature. - William Styron, The New York Review of Books
Philip Caputo was raised in the suburbs of Chicago. After serving with the Marines in Vietnam, he spent nine years as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, including five years as a foreign correspondent, and shared a Pulitzer Prize in 1972 for his reporting on election fraud in Chicago. In 1975 he was wounded in Beirut and during his convalescence completed the manuscript for A Rumor of War, his much acclaimed memoir about his service in Vietnam. In 1977 he left the paper and turned to writing books and magazine articles full time. He is the author of seven works of fiction including Exiles, The Voyage and Acts of Faith, two memoirs, and four works of non-fiction. In addition, he has been a contributing editor for the New York Times Magazine, Esquire, National Geographic, and several other publications. He divides his time between Connecticut and Arizona. His new novel Crossers will be published by Knopf in October, 2009.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780345272980 |
| ISBN 10 | 0345272986 |
| Title | A Rumor of War |
| Author | Philip Caputo |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Ballantine Books |
| Year published | 1978-05-01 |
| Number of pages | 0 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |