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Karl Marlantes
History & Commentary
Karl Marlantes is an American author and Vietnam War veteran known for novels and nonfiction that explore combat, trauma, and veterans' experiences.
Biography
Karl Arthur Marlantes (born December 24, 1944) is an American author and Vietnam War veteran. He has written four books: Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War (2010), What It Is Like to Go to War (2011), Deep River (2019), and Cold Victory (2024).
His work draws on his combat experience and on literature and psychological thought; in What It Is Like to Go to War he weaves accounts of combat with analysis, self-examination and readings from Homer to the Mahabharata and Jung, and discusses making peace with actions taken in war.
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Books by Karl Marlantes
What It Is Like to Go to War
What It Is Like to Go to War is a nonfiction examination of the experience of combat and how inadequately society prepares young people for war. Marlantes combines riveting accounts of his combat experiences with thoughtful analysis, self-examination and readings, and describes being haunted by the face of a young North Vietnamese soldier he killed before finding a way to make peace with his past.