The Things They Carried
Tim O’Brien
Of these stories, five first appeared in Esquire: ‘The Things They Carried’, ‘How to Tell a True War Story’, ‘Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong’, ‘The Ghost Soldiers’ and ‘The Lives of the Dead’. ‘Speaking of Courage’ was first published in The Massachusetts Review, then later, in a revised version, in Granta. ‘In the Field’ was first published in Gentlemen’s Quarterly. ‘Style’, ‘Spin’ and ‘The Man I Killed’ were first published, in different form, in The Quarterly. ‘The Things They Carried’ appeared in The Best American Short Stories 1987. ‘Speaking of Courage’ and ‘The Ghost Soldiers’ appeared in Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards (1978 and 1982). ‘On the Rainy River’ first appeared in Playboy.
The author wishes to thank the editors of those publications and to express gratitude for support received from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Fourth Estate
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Published by Flamingo 1991
First published in Great Britain by Collins 1990
Copyright © Tim O’Brien 1990
The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
Author photograph © Jerry Bauer
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Source ISBN: 9780006543947
Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2010 ISBN: 9780007386802 Version: 2015-07-03
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This book is lovingly dedicated to
the men of Alpha Company, and in particular to Jimmy Cross, Norman Bowker, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Henry Dobbins, and Kiowa
Table of Contents
SWEETHEART OF THE SONG TRA BONG
This is a work of fiction. Except for a few details regarding the author’s own life, all the incidents, names and characters are imaginary.
FIRST LIEUTENANT JIMMY CROSS carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. They were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross