The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. It was our generation’s horror. The tentacles of anger, grief, and support affected many of us in various ways. While there is no definitive text, there is no end of books on the subject, we shall look at three. The Things They Carried /1990 by Army veteran Tim O’Brien centers on a narrator who is in a platoon of close-knit soldiers. The Sorrow of War tells war tales from a Vietnamese perspective. It is in some ways a North Vietnamese version of The Things They Carried but more graphic. Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam /1986 & 2002 outlines the activities of soldiers in a “typical” tour of duty. These are real letters. The emphasis will be more on how did events feel as opposed to what actually happened. Strap yourselves in and join us for discussions of the many things that the war and the memory of the war evokes. Please read in The Things They Carried FIRST the segment titled “On the Rainey River”; then read pages 3-126 for the first class.