Biography

Tim O'Brien is from a small town in Minnesota. He was born on October 1, 1946.

He matriculated at Macalester College. Graduation in 1968 found him with a BA in political science and a draft notice.

O'Brien was against the war, but reported for service and was sent to Vietnam with what has been called the "unlucky" Americal division due to its involvement in the My Lai massacre in 1968, an event which figures prominently in In the Lake of the Woods.. He was assigned to 3rd Platoon, A Co., 5th Batt. 46th Inf., as an infantry foot soldier. O'Brien's tour of duty was 1969-70.

After Vietnam he became a graduate student at Harvard. No doubt he was one of very few Vietnam veterans there at that time, much less Combat Infantry Badge (CIB) holders. Having the opportunity to do an internship at the Washington Post, he eventually left Harvard to become a newspaper reporter. O'Brien's career as a reporter gave way to his fiction writing after publication of his memoir If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Send Me Home.

Tim O'Brien is now a visiting professor and endowed chair at Southwest Texas State University where he teaches in the Creative Writing Program. He is on the advisory board for The Ridenhour Prizes. O'Brien's archive is held by the Harry Ransom Center (slideshow) in Austin, Texas.

from The Things They Carried

"A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue. As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil. "

Tim O'Brien

Historians often refer to the Vietnam War as America's longest war because it can be dated from President Harry Truman's commitment of $15 million to aid the French forces in Indochina in 1950 to the fall of Saigon in 1975. The reasons the U.S. became involved in Vietnam are complex. Briefly, American policy makers beginning with the Truman administration believed that the spread of Chinese Communism in Southeast Asia threatened the world balance of power as construed by the cold war. The so-called "domino theory" held that the entire region would "fall" to communism if the U.S. did not support South Vietnam against incursions from the north.

Vietnam Time Line

1887
France establishes colonial control over Indochina.

1941
Founding of the Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi (Viet Minh).

Aug. 1945
Japan surrenders to the Allies, ending World War II. The Viet Minh begin their revolution.

Sept. 1945
Ho Chi Minh declares the independence of Vietnam.

Dec. 1946
The first Indochina War begins, as the Viet Minh attempt to gain independence from France.

June 1950
Truman sends troops to Korea after communist forces from North Korea invade the Republic of South Korea.

July 1950
U.S. involvement in Vietnam begins, as President Truman pledges financial aid and supplies to the French.

1950 – 1953
Korean War

Jan. 1953
Dwight D. Eisenhower takes office and uses the domino theory as justification for increased aid to France. The domino theory held that the collapse of one country in a region to communism would cause the fall of the remaining countries, like a row of dominoes.

July 1953
The Korean War ends with an armistice dividing the country into communist North Korea and democratic South Korea.

May 1954
France surrenders to the Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu.

July 1954
The Geneva Accords divide Vietnam in half, following the example of Korea.

March 1959
The second Indochina War, known as the Vietnam War to Americans, begins as Ho Chi Minh declares a People’s War to unite Vietnam.

Nov. 1960
John F. Kennedy elected president.

Dec. 1960
Formation of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (Viet Cong).

Oct. 1961
The U.S. sends helicopter units to South Vietnamese troops and becomes involved in combat operations.

Nov. 1963
South Vietnamese leader Diem is overthrown in a military coup. President Kennedy assassinated; Vice President Lyndon Johnson succeeds him.

Aug. 1964
Three North Vietnamese boats allegedly fire torpedoes at the USS Maddox, a destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin, resulting in Congress’ Tonkin Gulf Resolution. The resolution allows Johnson to wage war against North Vietnam without securing a declaration of war from Congress as stipulated in the U.S. Constitution.

March 1965
Operation Rolling Thunder begins three years of regular bombing of North Vietnam. The first US combat forces arrive in Vietnam.

Oct.-Nov. 1965
The U.S. wins Battle of Ia Drang Valley, the first battle of the war. Heavy casualties on both sides.

Dec. 1965
Number of U.S. forces in Vietnam reaches 184,300.

April 1966
American B-52’s begin bombing North Vietnam.

Dec. 1966
Number of U.S. forces in Vietnam reaches 385,000, with slightly over 5,000 combat deaths.

Jan. 1967
Start of Operation Cedar Falls, a major ground war effort in which U.S. and South Vietnamese forces target Vietcong bases near Saigon.

Dec. 1967
U.S. troop levels increase to almost 500,000, with combat deaths reaching approximately 16,000.

Jan. 1968
Beginning of the Tet Offensive, a major show of force by North Vietnam and the Viet Cong.

Feb. 1968
During the Battle of Hue, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops kill more than 3,000. South Vietnamese and U.S. troops counter-attack, retaking the city.

March 1968
Members of a U.S. infantry company kill 504 Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai Massacre. President Johnson unexpectedly announces he will not run for reelection.

April 1968
Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated in Memphis.

May 1968
Peace talks begin in Paris between U.S. and North Vietnamese negotiators.

Aug. 1968
Riots erupt at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago as antiwar protestors clash with Chicago police and National Guardsmen.

Oct. 1968
President Johnson announces the end of Operation Rolling Thunder, halting the bombing of North Vietnam.

Dec. 1968
U.S. troop levels reach 495,000, with 30,000 combat deaths to date.

Feb. 1969
Tim O’Brien begins service as an infantryman in Vietnam.

March 1969
President Nixon begins Operation Menu, secret bombings of Cambodia. Nixon announces policy of Vietnamization, shifting fighting from the U.S. to the South Vietnamese army.

April 1969
U.S. troops reach their highest level of the war, 543,400, with 33,641 Americans killed in combat.

May 1969
Battle of Hamburger Hill, the last major mission by U.S. troops. The battle had heavy casualties and an unclear outcome, provoking a massive outcry against the war.

June 1969
Withdrawal of 25,000 U.S. troops begins gradual reduction of forces.

Sept. 1969
Ho Chi Minh dies at 79.

Nov. 1969
Largest antiwar protest in U.S. history, as 250,000 march in Washington. Atrocities of My Lai massacre are revealed to the American public.

Dec. 1969
U.S. troop levels have been decreased by 115,000 soldiers. Deaths total 40,024.

March 1970
Cambodia’s Prince Sihanouk, ousted by coup, joins with communist Khmer Rouge in attempt to regain power. Tim O’Brien returns to the U.S.

May 1970
U.S. forces invade Cambodia to weaken Communist forces in the region. This results in numerous student protests, including a demonstration at Ohio Kent State University where National Guard troops kill four students and wound others.

June 1970
Repeal of the 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution. U.S. troops withdraw from Cambodia.

Dec. 1970
U.S. troop levels fall to 280,000.

March 1971
Military court convicts Lieutenant William L. Calley for his role in the My Lai massacre. He is the only officer found guilty.

June 1971
New York Times publishes the Pentagon Papers, classified documents revealing Vietnam policy decisions by previous White House administrations.

Dec. 1971
U.S. troop levels fall to 156,800.

April 1972
North Vietnam initiates the Eastertide Offensive. The U.S. responds by bombing Hanoi and Hai Phong Harbor.

May 1972
To force North Vietnamese concessions at the peace talks, Nixon orders Operation Linebacker, heavy bombing of North Vietnam’s military supply network and the mining of Hai Phong Harbor.

Aug. 1972
The last U.S. combat troops leave Vietnam.

Oct. 1972
U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger announces “peace is at hand,” after he and North Vietnamese leader Le Duc Tho reach a tentative agreement on a cease-fire. South Vietnamese President Thieu rejects the agreement.

Nov. 1972
Nixon wins reelection.

Dec. 1972
Peace talks break off and U.S. carries out Operation Linebacker II, the most intense air attacks of the war.

Jan. 1973
Peace talks resume and an agreement ending the war and providing for the release of prisoners of war is signed by Kissinger and Le Duc Tho.The U.S. ends its military draft.

March 1973
Last U.S. troops leave Vietnam. 47,244 soldiers were killed in action during the war, with 10,446 non-combat deaths.

June 1973
Congress passes the Case-Church Amendment, prohibiting further U.S. military involvement in Southeast Asia.

Oct. 1973
Kissinger and Le Duc Tho awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Tho declines the award, saying that “peace has not yet really been established in Vietnam.”

Nov. 1973
Congress passes the War Powers Resolution, limiting presidential authority to send troops into combat overseas.

Feb. 1974
Intense fighting between the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government begins.

Aug. 1974
Nixon resigns following Watergate scandal. Vice President Gerald Ford becomes President.

Jan. 1975
North Vietnamese forces take control of South Vietnam’s Phuoc Long Province, with no U.S. military response.

March 1975
North Vietnamese forces launch Ho Chi Minh Campaign.

April 1975
Khmer Rouge captures Phnom Penh, ending five years of fighting in Cambodia and beginning the era of Pol Pot. Nguyen Van Thieu resigns as president of the Republic of Vietnam. The helicopter evacuation of Saigon’s remaining Americans takes place a day before North Vietnamese forces take control of the city and rename it Ho Chi Minh City. South Vietnamese President Duong Van Minh delivers an unconditional surrender to the Communists, ending the Vietnam War.

July 1976
The reunited Vietnam is named the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, with Pham Van Dong its prime minister.

Jan. 1977
President Jimmy Carter pardons nearly 10,000 Vietnam War draft evaders.

Sept. 1977
Socialist Republic of Vietnam is admitted to the United Nations.

May 1978
Refugees flee Vietnam.

Dec. 1978
Vietnam invades Cambodia, taking control as Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge flee to the jungle.

Nov. 1982
Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedicated in Washington D.C.

Sept. 1989
Vietnam withdraws troops from Cambodia.

July 1995
President Clinton restores diplomatic recognition to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

May 1997
U.S. and Vietnam exchange ambassadors.

A Storyteller For the War That Won't End

By D. J. R. BRUCKNER
Published: April 03, 1990 New York Times

For the first time since his Army tour of duty in Vietnam ended 20 years ago, Tim O'Brien will be going back in June. The official reason for the trip is a conference of American and Vietnamese writers in Hanoi. A more personal one for Mr. O'Brien is to return to the area around the village of My Lai.

''When the unit I went in with got there in February of 1969,'' he said the other day, ''we all wondered why the place was so hostile. We did not know there had been a massacre there a year earlier. The news about that only came out later, while we were there, and then we knew. There is a monument in My Lai now and I want to see it.''

Vietnam has never left Mr. O'Brien. The country, the war and the men who fought it have filled most of his published fiction, and his latest volume, ''The Things They Carried,'' is a series of interconnected stories about the war and its victims - and about the whole business of concocting stories.

There will probably be more war stories. In a telephone interview from Minneapolis, where he was promoting ''The Things They Carried,'' Mr. O'Brien said: ''After each of my books about the war has appeared, I thought it might be the last, but I've stopped saying that to myself. There are just too many stories left to tell -in fact, more all the time. I suppose that for the sake of my career, I ought to turn in another direction. And the novel I am working on now is about life in the north country of Minnesota. But I know more war stories will come out. They have to.''

Serpentine Paths

For Mr. O'Brien the stories are larger than the war, and considerably more important. Those in ''The Things They Carried'' are at least as much about storytelling as about men at war. Some retell in a different way stories already told. Narrators dispute the accuracy of what they themselves are saying. Occasionally a narrator will come to the end of a harrowing tale and then insist that the protagonist did not do the terrible or heroic things he has just recited, but that he himself did them.

Characters snatch stories from one another's mouths and tell them in a different way, with different incidents. A character may take part of a story away from a narrator and refashion it. A first-person commentator who intervenes to critique or correct a story just told, and who can easily be mistaken for Mr. O'Brien, may turn out to be a character in a later story. The stories themselves eventually seem to be engaged in a dialogue about invention. ''As you play with stories you find that whatever is said is not sufficient to the task,'' Mr. O'Brien said.

In 1978, when Mr. O'Brien's third novel, ''Going After Cacciato,'' appeared, some critics said his tale of an American soldier who simply walked away from the Vietnam War had strong elements of the Latin American school of fiction called magic realism. In his new work the magic is in the storyteller's prestidigitation as the stories pass from character to character and voice to voice, and the realism seems Homeric. Mr. O'Brien seems a little startled when he is asked about that, but he admits that the Trojan War epics of the ancient Greek poet keep drawing him back. There is not a line in ''The Things They Carried'' that imitates Homer, but at times he is such a presence that he might be included as an unnamed character - in the underlying assumptions about fate, in the enmity of the earth itself toward men in battle, in the sheer glory of fighting, in the boasting of young men.

The Shock of Being Drafted

Storytelling preceded war for Mr. O'Brien, or at least some kind of writing did. He grew up in the southern Minnesota town of Worthington -''the Turkey Capital of the World'' -and was there, a month out of Macalaster College in St. Paul, when his draft notice arrived. He had always liked fiction, and books, but he had majored in political science and certainly had no intention to be a writer.

His reaction to the draft notice still surprises him. ''I went to my room in the basement and started pounding the typewriter,'' he recalled. ''I did it all summer. It was the most terrible summer of my life, worse than being in the war. My conscience kept telling me not to go, but my whole upbringing told me I had to. That horrible summer made me a writer. I don't know what I wrote. I've still got it, reams of it, but I'm not willing to look at it. It was just stuff - bitter, bitter stuff, and it's probably full of self-pity. But that was the beginning.''

He tried to abort the impulse. After he returned from Vietnam in 1970 he went back to political science, doing graduate work in government at Harvard University - ''I think I thought I might become the next Henry Kissinger,'' he said - before a brief stint as a reporter for The Washington Post.

But the stories would not be stopped. So far they have filled five books; his impression is that they are multiplying all the time in his head. He talks about them like an evangelist or a prophet. ''My life is storytelling,'' he said. ''I believe in stories, in their incredible power to keep people alive, to keep the living alive, and the dead. And if I have started now to play with the stories, inside the stories themselves, well, that's what people do all the time.

''Storytelling is the essential human activity. The harder the situation, the more essential it is. In Vietnam men were constantly telling one another stories about the war. Our unit lost a lot of guys around My Lai, but the stories they told stay around after them. I would be mad not to tell the stories I know.''

Impatient With Reality

The stories, then, live on their own, and their relationship to reality is not direct. Mr. O'Brien uses his infectious laugh to punctuate his confession that the insistent reality of characters he has been imagining for 20 years often makes him impatient with people he has not imagined: ''I live in my head all day long and the world is a little dreamy.''

The intense reality of his characters explains a puzzle in ''The Things They Carried.'' The book begins with a disclaimer: except for a few details all the characters and incidents are imaginary. But then there is a dedication to a company of soldiers, especially to six who are named. Then these six turn up in the stories. ''Well, yes, I dedicated the book to my characters,'' Mr. O'Brien said. ''After all, I lived with them for five years while I was writing. In Vietnam people were being rotated constantly, so men you served with you would know six or eight months. These characters are the people I know best.''

Where do they come from? Invariably they begin with ''a scrap of dialogue, a way of saying something, in one form or another always with language. There's a whisper inside the ear that begins each of them.'' They spring from spoken words, even those who are quite inarticulate. In ''The Things They Carried,'' the central character of one story, ''The Man I Killed,'' is, as Mr. O'Brien puts it, ''offstage,'' and writing a story about a character who is not there was ''a wonderful technical challenge.''

Fact and Fiction Interwoven

But the character's voice, the ''way of saying something'' that inspired his creation, is not silenced. He turns up elsewhere as a narrator. His name is Tim; other people call him O'Brien. And therein lies another tale. A reader is well advised to heed the book's opening caution that ''this is a work of fiction'' in which all the characters are made up, as are all the disputes the narrators have about the truth of the stories. This Tim, like Mr. O'Brien, comes originally from Minnesota and is 43 years old. Everything else, even most of the convincing personal details about his life and family, is made up.

It is disappointing to find that Tim's 9-year-old daughter is an invention, not just because she is appealing but because her father's feelings about her role as an interrogator of his conscience are so powerful. She was the most difficult of all the characters to create, Mr. O'Brien said: ''I had to keep going back and cutting a lot for the verisimilitude. But, you see, in a way she is real, the child I do not have. Storytelling can even do that for you.''

But stories are not all he dreams about. Several years ago he told a reporter he wanted to have a best seller, ''not just read in English classes.'' Now, he said: ''I want both. After all, I don't write just for myself. It's really annoying to be on a plane coming out here and see the guy in the next seat reading someone else. So, sure, best seller. I'd love to knock Stephen King off the top of the list. I know I won't but, after all, I spend my life inventing a different reality.''