The Things They Carried is a historical fiction novel that follows the men of Alpha Company in the Vietnam War, including the character of Tim O'Brien (based on the author himself).

With lyrical prose and sensitivity, it examines the experience of the war, as well as memory, truth, and fear. If you have any interest in the Vietnam War, this is a must-read.

After years of hearing about the heroic men in her family who served their country, Frankie McGrath decides to take the same step: she joins the Army Nurse Corps to serve in Vietnam. With almost no nursing experience, she is thrown into the fire and learns on the job, facing the worst traumas imaginable. Through two tours, she gives everything she has trying to save the soldiers and the Vietnamese she treats--only to be roundly rejected when she returns to the U.S. Even after the war is over, Frankie's personal war has just begun.

Hannah has topped her previous winners with this novel: it's sure to be on my best of the year list. The Vietnam War has long been one of my favorite historical fiction topics and I was thrilled when this book was announced. The stories of the soldiers, medical staff, and Vietnamese deserve to be told. This one happens to tell the stories of the women who served, who were invisible to many of the people there (I chatted with a veteran neighbor about this book and he confirmed that he never saw a Western woman in Vietnam--which meant he was lucky, because he wasn't injured). Highly recommended.

Paxton Andrews is a sheltered southern girl whose eyes open to the world when she goes to Berkeley and decides to become a journalist. She then goes to Vietnam to report on the war, writing a newspaper column about what it’s really like for the soldiers and the Vietnamese. Through her travels and reporting, she meets men who are on the front lines, and her relationships with them shape her life–while the war has its own impact on her and those relationships.

This is the only Danielle Steel novel I’ve ever read, but I loved it. I read this several times in high school and while there is plenty of romance (it is a Steel novel, after all), it also brought places like Saigon, Da Nang, and Cu Chi to life. I learned about the “tunnel rats” who bravely burrowed into the Viet Cong’s secret tunnels and the way veterans were broken after fighting this losing war. It’s been ages since I read it and I’m not sure how it holds up, but it looms large in my memory, and I think that alone is a strong endorsement.

Perry is a teenager from Harlem who is sent to the front lines in Vietnam after volunteering for the service. Fallen Angels tells the story of Perry and his mostly Black platoon as they are repeatedly sent into the most dangerous assignments.

It’s a moving book about the camaraderie, unending fear, loss, and trauma experienced by these young soldiers. I first read this YA book in middle school and returned to it several times as a teen; I even listed it as one of the best books I read in school.

Past and present meet in this novel that takes us back to the Vietnam War, when two sisters work as bar girls to send money home to their parents. One of them falls for a GI named Dan–and she eventually becomes pregnant. Decades later, Dan returns with his wife, hoping to find the woman and child he left behind. Meanwhile, a Vietnamese man searches for some proof that his father was a Black American soldier, so he can find a way to America and a better life.

A poignant look at the effects of the Vietnam War, mostly outside of the fighting, and how they last for decades and across generations.