At the age of twenty-three, James Webb became one of the most highly decorated Marines of the Vietnam War, receiving among other honors the Navy Cross for “extraordinary heroism” and two Purple Hearts. His subsequent career has been divided between writing and public service. The author of ten books, including six bestselling novels, a filmmaker, and an Emmy Award–winning journalist, Webb also served as a committee counsel in Congress, an Assistant Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy, and as a member of the United States Senate. The father of six children, he lives in Virginia with his wife, Hong Le Webb, who was born in Vietnam and is a graduate of Cornell Law School.
“Few writers since Stephen Crane have portrayed men at war with
such a ring of steely truth.”—The Houston Post
“In swift, flexible prose that does everything he asks of
it—including a whiff of hilarious farce just to show he can do
it—Webb gives us an extraordinary range of acutely observed people,
not one a stereotype, and as many different ways of looking at that
miserable war . . . Fields of Fire is a stunner.”—Newsweek
“James Webb has rehabilitated the idea of the American hero—not
John Wayne, to be sure, but every man, caught up in circumstances
beyond his control, surviving the blood, dreck, and absurdity with
dignity and even a certain elan. Fields of Fire is an antiwar book,
yes, but not naively, dumbly anti-soldier or anti-American . . .
Webb pulls off the scabs and looks directly, unflinchingly on the
open wounds of the Sixties.”—Philadelphia Inquirer
“Webb’s book has the unmistakable sound of truth acquired the hard
way. His men hate the war; it is a lethal fact cut adrift from
personal sense. Yet they understand that its profound insanity, its
blood and oblivion, have in some way made them fall in love with
battle and with each other.”—Time
“A novel of such fullness and impact, one is tempted to compare it
to Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead.”—The Oregonian
“In my opinion, the finest of the Vietnam novels.”—Tom Wolfe
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