Tim O’Brien
Novelist
Tim O'Brien is an American novelist. His books include the National Book Award-winning "Going After Cacciato" (1978), as well as his debut novel, "If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home" (1973); his most recent novel, "July, July" (2002); and the Pulitzer Prize finalist "The Things They Carried" (1990), a combination novel/short story collection/memoir based on his experiences in the Vietnam War. A special twentieth anniversary edition of "The Things They Carried" was released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2010.
War Films Should Make Us Duck Real Bullets
The author and former vet wishes war movies could give audiences a taste of reality, and that warmongering politicians would risk their own lives on the front lines.
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7 min
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The Things Tim O’Brien Carries
What burdens does the author of “The Things They Carried” still bear?
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3 min
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Gen Y: “The Girls Look Prettier and the Guys Look Buffer”
Reflections on the younger generation, and on growing old.
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4 min
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How U.S. Soldiers Have Changed Since Vietnam
The author and former veteran sees none of his generation’s “edgy,” questioning attitude in the modern military.
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3 min
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What We Still Don’t Get About Vietnam
The rebellious anger of the Vietnam era hasn’t stopped war. In fact, “a slight stink of the hip” now surrounds our cultural memory of the event.
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6 min
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Keeping Memories, and Ourselves, Alive
Writing about dead loved ones can’t bring them back—or even preserve their memories, really. But it’s something.
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3 min
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Tim O’Brien Tells a True War Story
For Tim O’Brien, “true war stories” can be lies, or take place years before or after a war. Here he shares one that made him want to cry—and reminds him […]
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4 min
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War Stories Are Also Love Stories
Part of a writer’s job is to puncture our clichés about subjects like love and war with irony, edge, and ridicule.
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5 min
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Writing About Anguish Beyond Words
How to convey the horror of war to someone who’s never witnessed it? It’s language, not the pain of remembering, that makes the task so hard.
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6 min
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“The Things They Carried,” 20 Years Later
Two decades after his masterpiece, the author reflects on war, fatherhood, and the passage of time that’s made him feel like “a stranger to the person who wrote that book.”
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5 min
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Washing Off the Stink of Pomposity
Writing never gets easier, but there are certain mistakes writers can learn to avoid.
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2 min
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Big Think Interview With Tim O’Brien
A conversation with the National Book Award-winning writer.
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46 min
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