• Published in 1990, The Things They Carried is a collection of

interrelated short stories about the Vietnam War written by Tim

O’Brien.
• The historical fiction collection has been hailed not only as an
essential piece of literature about the Vietnam War, but as a
workshop in fiction writing itself.
• Although Tim O’Brien won the National Book award in 1979 for
his novel Going After Cacciato, it is perhaps the stories of The
Things They Carried which has left the largest impact on the
American perception of the Vietnam War.