If I Die in a Combat Zone

If I Die in a Combat Zone
Tim O’Brien

Hailed as one of the finest books to emerge from the Vietnam War, If I Die in a Combat Zone is a fascinating insight into the lives of the soldiers caught in the conflict.First published in 1973, this intensely personal novel about one foot soldier’s tour of duty in Vietnam established Tim O’Brien’s reputation as the outstanding chronicler of the Vietnam experience for a generation of Americans.From basic training to the front line and back again, he takes the reader on an unforgettable journey – walking the minefields of My Lai, fighting the heat and the snipers in an alien land, crawling into the ghostly tunnels – as he explores the ambiguities of manhood and morality in a war no one believes in.

TIM O’BRIEN

If I Die in a Combat Zone

Copyright (#ulink_289cdce2-2319-5566-bdae-72dd651ba895)

HarperPress An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

This Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition published in 2006

Published by Flamingo in 1995

and reprinted five times

Previously published in paperback by Paladin 1989

and by Grafton Books 1980

Reprinted twice

First published in Great Britain by Calder and Boyars Ltd 1973

Copyright © Tim O’Brien 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973

PS Section © Travis Elborough 2006

PS ™ is a trademark of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

Tim O’Brien asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Portions of this book appeared inPlayboy, the Washington Post, the Minneapolis Tribune and Worthington Daily Globe

Excerpts from ‘Laches’ from The Dialogues of Plato translated by Benjamin Jowett © Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1953. Used by permission of the publisher.

Excerpt from ‘The Waste Land’ from Collected Poems 1909–62 by T.S. Eliot. Used by permission of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc and Faber & Faber.

Lines from ‘Homeward Bound’ by Paul Simon

© 1966 by Paul Simon. Used by permission of Charing Cross Music, Inc.

Excerpt from ‘Hugh Selwyn Mauberly – IV’ from Personae by Ezra Pound. Used by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation and Faber & Faber Ltd.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780007204977

Ebook Edition © APRIL 2013 ISBN 9780007381760

Version: 2015-07-02

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Dedication (#ulink_2743257d-31b0-5fe1-b040-8f4f427abfbd)

For my family

Names and physical characteristics

of persons depicted in this book

have been changed.

Contents

Cover (#ua1a33bc2-a7bd-5ec6-bc56-f995518b5525)

Title Page (#u62449635-1351-576e-85d5-9ed38625b8a9)

Copyright (#uf2b9638e-e8d5-5338-80dd-d053f900ca70)

Dedication (#ulink_35d20cdd-9d94-5c88-826c-d924ce1ad5fb)

Epigraph (#u2eb27d2a-4a95-5f57-a520-e9eebed3b1ca)

1 Days (#ulink_3b11e3ef-0a2c-5570-9cf0-262e425881bc)

2 Pro Patria (#ulink_a8443f17-db3f-5965-a6e6-a1d9738073df)

3 Beginning (#ulink_93c9a097-f9d4-5b5d-9359-5b9a681795b4)

4 Nights (#ulink_e8098bda-f38b-5a2c-af31-dac6bc2fe303)

5 Under the Mountain (#ulink_b9bcd500-7ead-5867-a900-30ee352eb17a)

6 Escape (#ulink_d8ed0baa-8c7c-5d3f-b0fc-70e2caa1f33a)

7 Arrival (#litres_trial_promo)

8 Alpha Company (#litres_trial_promo)

9 Ambush (#litres_trial_promo)