โFew writers since Stephen Crane have portrayed men at war with such a ring of steely truth.โโThe Houston Post
With a new introduction by the author for the bookโs 40th anniversary.
They each had their reasons for joining the Marines. They each had their illusions. Goodrich came from Harvard. Snake got the tattooโโDeath Before Dishonorโโbefore he got the uniform. And Hodges was haunted by the ghosts of family heroes. They were three young men from different worlds, plunged into a white-hot, murderous realm of jungle warfare as it was fought by one Marine platoon in the An Hoa Basin, 1969. They had no way of knowing what awaited them. Nothing could have prepared them for the madness to come. And in the heat and horror of battle they took on new identities, took on each other, and were each reborn in fields of fire.
Fields of Fire is James Webbโs classic novel of the Vietnam War, a novel of poetic power, razor-sharp observation, and agonizing human truths seen through the prism of nonstop combat. Weaving together a cast of vivid characters, Fields of Fire captures the journey of unformed men through a man-made hellโuntil each man finds his fate.
Praise for Fields of Fire
โA stunner . . . 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.โโNewsweek
โA novel of such fullness and impact, one is tempted to compare it to Norman Mailerโs The Naked and the Dead.โโThe Oregonian
โWebbโs 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.โโTime