A Rumor of War Read online

  In Vietnam, at least in the literature, the violent senselessness and randomness of life and death is often telescoped into a few horrifying seconds, when worlds change drastically, and sometimes finally, for everyone. For most of us, in our ordinary lives, the process is much slower and more subtle and less perceptible, but its nature is the same. In an age when the clear-cut moral truths of our ancestors’ generations have been largely discarded, the Vietnam War—that most morally ambiguous undertaking—both reflects and illuminates our larger predicament; it is, finally, a perfect metaphor for our times.

  P.C.

  Norwalk, Connecticut

  May 1996

  Acclaim for A Rumor of War

  “To call it the best book about Vietnam is to trivialize it.… A Rumor of War is a dangerous and even subversive book, the first to insist—and the insistence is all the more powerful because it is implicit—that the reader ask himself the questions: How would I have acted? To what lengths would I have gone to survive? The sense of self is assaulted, overcome, subverted, leaving the reader to contemplate the deadening possibility that his own moral safety net might have a hole in it. It is a terrifying thought, and A Rumor of War is a terrifying book.… It will make the strongest among us weep.”

  —John Gregory Dunne, Los Angeles Times Book Review [front page]

  “There is a persuasive legitimacy in this hatred of a war when it is evoked by a man who has suffered its most horrible debauchments. But perhaps that is why we are equally persuaded by Caputo’s insistence on a recognition that for many men, himself included, war and the confrontation with death can produce an emotion—a commingled exultation and anguish—that verges on rapture. It is like a mighty drug, certainly it approaches the transcendental.… In this book, Philip Caputo writes so beautifully and honestly about both fear and courage, writes with such knowing certitude about death and men’s confrontation with the abyss, that we cannot doubt for an instant that he is a brave man who fought well long after that ‘splendid little war’ became an obscene nightmare in which he nearly drowned.”

  —William Styron, The New York Review of Books

  “A Rumor of War is not only precious for its moral depth and gravity, it is also a battle narrative of the first rank.”

  —Geoffrey Wolff, New Times

  “Every war seems to find its own voice: Caputo, it seems to me, is an eloquent spokesman for all we lost in Vietnam.”

  —C. D. B. Bryan, Saturday Review

  “Only a warrior could have written A Rumor of War; warrior, honest man, powerful writer. His book is a grim triumph, and will live.”

  —Stephen Becker, Chicago Daily News

  “A book that must be read and reread—if for no other reason than as an eloquent statement against war. It is a superb book.”

  —Terry Anderson, Denver Post

  “I hope many people in a position to affect future diplomatic and military moves will keep Caputo’s book by their bedside. It is tough and honest; it is so honest it makes the attraction of combat understandable. This is not a simple book. It may even be profound.”

  —Margaret Manning, The Boston Globe

  “In this powerful book, Caputo does what most of us have yet to do: face the enemy within and overcome the wounds.”

  —Peter J. Ognibene, The Washington Post Book World

  “This is the hardest review I have ever had to write. I can tell you that A Rumor of War is the most daunting and significant personal account yet generated by our great dishonor, Vietnam.… Yes, but would you read it? Oh, I’d like to have authority over your life. For just this moment. To hit you across the mouth, take your first-born child, invalidate your credit cards, whatever, if you don’t read A Rumor of War. Now. I am that sick with passion for this book.”

  —D. Keith Mano, National Review

  “This is news that goes beyond what the journalists brought us, news from the heart of darkness. It was long overdue.”

  —Newsweek

  About the Author

  Mustered out of the Marine Corps in 1967, Philip Caputo went on to a prizewinning career as a journalist, covering the war in Beirut and the fall of Saigon before leaving the Chicago Tribune to devote himself to writing full-time. His novels are Horn of Africa, DelCorso’s Gallery, Indian Country, and Equation for Evil, and he is also the author of a second volume of memoir, Means of Escape. A contributing editor for Esquire, Philip Caputo has also written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and the Los Angeles Times. He and his wife, Leslie Blanchard Ware, live in Connecticut.

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  Copyright © 1977, 1996 by Philip Caputo

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  First published in hardcover in 1977 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston

  First Owl Books Edition 1996

  Grateful acknowledgment is made to Mr. G. T. Sassoon and to The Viking Press for permission to reprint the lines from “The Effect,” “Dreamers,” and “Base Details” from Collected Poems by Siegfried Sassoon, Copyright 1918 by E. P. Dutton Co., 1964 by Siegfried Sassoon; and for permission to reprint lines from “Elegy” and “Aftermath” from Collected Poems by Siegfried Sassoon, Copyright 1920 by E. P. Dutton Co., 1948 by Siegfried Sassoon.

  Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Owen Estate, to Chatto & Windus Ltd., and to New Directions Publishing Corporation for permission to reprint lines from “Arms and the Boy” and “Apologia Pro Poemate Meo” from Collected Poems by Wilfred Owen, edited by C. Day Lewis, Copyright Chatto & Windus Ltd., 1946, © 1963.

  eISBN 9781429959667

  First eBook edition: April 2014