
A Rumor of War
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Narrated by:
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L. J. Ganser
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By:
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Philip Caputo
About this listen
A platoon commander in the first combat unit sent to fight in Vietnam, Lieutenant Caputo landed at Danang on March 8, 1965, convinced that American forces would win a quick and decisive victory over the Communists. Sixteen months later, and without ceremony, Caputo left Vietnam a shell-shocked veteran whose youthful idealism and faith in the rightness of the war had been utterly shattered. A Rumor of War tells the story of that trajectory and allows us to see and feel the reality of the conflict as the author himself experienced it, from the weeks of tedium hacking through scorching jungles, to the sudden violence of ambushes and firefights, to the unbreakable bonds of friendship forged between soldiers, and finally to a sense of the war as having no purpose other than the fight for survival.
Most troubling, Caputo gives us an unflinching view not only of remarkable bravery and heroism but also of the atrocities committed in Vietnam by ordinary men so numbed by fear and desperate to survive that their moral distinctions had collapsed.
More than a statement against war, Caputo's memoir offers readers today a profoundly visceral sense of what war is and, as the author says, of "the things men do in war and the things war does to men".
©1996 Philip Caputo (P)2009 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Over the past four decades, many people have written about the Vietnam War in an effort to make sense of the raging debates, the staggering death and destruction, and the lingering trauma. History is often complicated, biased, or missing key information, especially when it comes to war. Arm yourself with comprehensive knowledge of the conflict with our selection of titles detailing the Vietnam War, from fiction to nonfiction, personal stories to histories.
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Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: A performance so poignant, we gave Bronson Pinchot (yes, Balki from Perfect Strangers) our inaugural Narrator of the Year award.... In the monsoon season of 1968-69 at a fire support base called Matterhorn, located in the remote mountains of Vietnam, a young and ambitious Marine lieutenant wants to command a company to further his civilian political ambitions. But two people stand in his way.
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A First For Me . . . And The Last
- By Glen on 05-24-10
By: Karl Marlantes
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The Killing Zone
- My Life in the Vietnam War
- By: Frederick Downs
- Narrated by: Barry Press
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Among the best books ever written about men in combat, The Killing Zone tells the story of the platoon of Delta One-six, capturing what it meant to face lethal danger, to follow orders, and to search for the conviction and then the hope that this war was worth the sacrifice. The book includes a new chapter on what happened to the platoon members when they came home.
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It dont mean nuthin.
- By Jack OBrien on 06-21-17
By: Frederick Downs
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Dispatches
- By: Michael Herr
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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From its terrifying opening to its final eloquent words, Dispatches makes us see, in unforgettable and unflinching detail, the chaos and fervor of the war and the surreal insanity of life in that singular combat zone. Michael Herr’s unsparing, unorthodox retellings of the day-to-day events in Vietnam take on the force of poetry, rendering clarity from one of the most incomprehensible and nightmarish events of our time.
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A remarkable performance of a remarkable book.
- By JohnB on 10-14-21
By: Michael Herr
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Whispers in the Tall Grass
- By: Nick Brokhausen
- Narrated by: George Spelvin
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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On his second combat tour, Nick Brokhausen served in Recon Team Habu, CCN. This unit was part of MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observations Group), or Studies and Observations Group as it was innocuously called. The small recon companies that were the center of its activities conducted some of the most dangerous missions of the war, infiltrating areas controlled by the North Vietnamese in Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. The companies never exceeded more than 30 Americans, yet they were the best source for the enemy's disposition.
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OUTSTANDING
- By James on 12-21-19
By: Nick Brokhausen
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What It Is Like to Go to War
- By: Karl Marlantes
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1969, at the age of twenty-three, Karl Marlantes was dropped into the highland jungle of Vietnam, an inexperienced lieutenant in command of a platoon of forty marines who would live or die by his decisions. Marlantes survived, but like many of his brothers in arms, he has spent the last forty years dealing with his war experience.
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Destined to become a Classic
- By Lynn on 09-05-11
By: Karl Marlantes
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We Were Soldiers Once... and Young
- Ia Drang - The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam
- By: Harold G. Moore, Joseph L. Galloway
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
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In November 1965, some 450 men of the First Battalion, Seventh Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopter into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. They were immediately surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped to pieces. Together, these actions at the landing zones X-Ray and Albany constituted one of the most savage and significant battles of the Vietnam War. How these men persevered makes a vivid portrait of war at its most inspiring and devastating.
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The truth
- By Bobbyg on 10-08-19
By: Harold G. Moore, and others
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The Sorrow of War
- By: Bao Ninh
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Bao Ninh, a former North Vietnamese soldier, provides a strikingly honest look at how the Vietnam War forever changed his life, his country, and the people who live there. Originally published against government wishes in Vietnam because of its nonheroic, nonideological tone, The Sorrow of War has won worldwide acclaim and become an international best seller.
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My dead former enemy was speaking to me!
- By Joe R. on 05-13-18
By: Bao Ninh
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Vietnam
- An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Max Hastings, Peter Noble
- Length: 33 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the US in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed two million people.
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A more nuanced view than Ken Burns' companion book
- By Vu on 10-21-18
By: Max Hastings
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We Few
- US Special Forces in Vietnam
- By: Nick Brokhausen
- Narrated by: George Spelvin
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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A Green Beret's gripping memoir of American Special Forces in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.
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Is there such a thing as funny war genre ??
- By dax on 11-04-18
By: Nick Brokhausen
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The Korean War
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 17 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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It was the first war we could not win. At no other time since World War II have two superpowers met in battle. Max Hastings, preeminent military historian, takes us back to the bloody, bitter struggle to restore South Korean independence after the Communist invasion of June 1950.
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Inspiring and Hard Hitting
- By David Ewing on 08-06-07
By: Max Hastings
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Chickenhawk
- By: Robert Mason
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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With more than half a million copies sold, Robert Mason's Chickenhawk is one of the best-selling books ever written about the Vietnam War. Fascinated with flying from a young age, Mason earned his private pilot's license even before graduating high school. He enlisted in the army in 1964 and endured an extremely challenging "weeding out" process in an effort to fly helicopters. Sent to Vietnam, he survived more than 1,000 air combat missions despite the violence and brutality exploding all around him.
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Best
- By richard olson on 08-21-15
By: Robert Mason
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Kill Anything That Moves
- The Real American War in Vietnam
- By: Nick Turse
- Narrated by: Don Lee
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Americans have long been taught that events such as the notorious My Lai massacre were "isolated incidents" in the Vietnam War, carried out by a few "bad apples." However, as award-winning journalist and historian Nick Turse demonstrates in this pioneering investigation, violence against Vietnamese civilians was not at all exceptional. Rather, it was pervasive and systematic, the predictable consequence of official orders to "kill anything that moves."
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A book that shakes you to your core
- By Gary Yevelev on 04-26-15
By: Nick Turse
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Point Man
- By: Chief James Watson, Kevin Dockery
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Chief Petty Officer James "Patches" Watson was there at the start. One of the first to come out of the famed Underwater Demolition Team 21, he was an initial member—a "plank owner"—of America's deadliest and most elite fighting force, the U.S. Navy SEALs. Through three tours in the jungle hell of Vietnam, he walked the point—staying alert to trip wires, booby traps, and punji pits, guiding his squad of amphibious fighters on missions of rescue, reconnaissance, and demolition—confronting a war's unique terrors head-on, unprotected . . . and unafraid.
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Great book with fresh stories
- By melamama on 06-28-24
By: Chief James Watson, and others
What listeners say about A Rumor of War
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-15-15
Excellent
I shouldn't have put off tackling this book for so long. Harrowing but very worthwhile.
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- Neti Fan
- 06-12-24
Powerful story, terrific narrator
This was in all the bookstores when I was in college in the 1980s, and now I see why. It’s a masterpiece, with prose so fine I bought the book on Kindle so I could highlight memorable passages. The reader is excellent, bringing a pitch-perfect intensity to the battle scenes and the story overall. Highly recommended.
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- PC
- 09-03-12
The realities of war, as seen by a young officer
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
This book, unusual for its infantry Lieutenant's perspective, should be required reading for learning why we must not resort to war except in the most threatening circumstances. Vietnam certainly was no threat to the US, and so many of our young soldiers died or were wounded for so little.
What was one of the most memorable moments of A Rumor of War?
The descriptions of what it was really like to invade a poor village are impossible to not remember indefinitely.
What about L. J. Ganser’s performance did you like?
The voice of the narrator represented the author's persona very convincingly. Also, it was not fatiguing in any way.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I understood for the first time some of the reasons why some soldiers violate the USA's war-fighting rules and ethics. Yet this type of conduct is still inexcusable but is rarely prosecuted.
Any additional comments?
I was in college during the early years of the Vietnam war, and this book brought back many memories of those times. Many of my friends fought in the war, as did my high-school ROTC teacher (who was killed by a land mine).
Based on the USA's history since Vietnam, it's now clear that as a country we simply do not learn from involvement in a pointless, immoral war. Our soldiers and their families and friends bear the burdens.
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- Tara
- 06-13-12
Powerful
As hard to put down as any action/war novel. The narrative is engrossing. Ganser handles the voice perfectly.
An amazing piece of work that stays with the reader.
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- DaChowder
- 08-27-12
Will we ever learn
Any additional comments?
This book is a classic. Being an Iraq War veteran I see that few things have changed since the 1960's.
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- peter brumlik
- 06-24-23
A Classic of Literary contributions to the War
Caputo is a master at describing the American War in Vietnam particularly, during the early stages of 1965-66. The only flaw in the audio version is that it is narrated by an 'actor' who is vying for an academy award. The narration detracts from the essence of the story.
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Overall
- Phil
- 02-12-10
Excellent
An enthralling account of life as a soldier in Vietnam, told with an honesty that endears you to the author despite the sometimes graphic nature of the details. By his own admission, Caputo wanted to shock people with this book and there were a lot of occasions where he succeeded for me. There is no sugar coating, nor tales of his own heroics, just a decent account of a soldier and his comrades and the events that contributed to the deterioration of their mental state.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Revindevin
- 01-31-17
You need to read this book.
As most wars are not as pointless as Vietnam was, I would be remiss to suggest this as an antiwar novel. But for just how profoundly useless it was, and the effect it had on the people in the bush and at home, this book is powerful. The writing is superb, the accounts unflinching, and is powerful even to a guy born in 98, where the Afghanistan war is most comparable. It is a stunning chapter of American history that I'm glad my US history professor made us read. If the author is in Heaven, he'll be happy as an angel that his work is still prominent and powerful today as much as it was back then.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Alder Hartman
- 09-05-19
Brutal unfiltered honesty
That is what the author goes for and that is what the author achieves. He does not tell the story from an elite's point of view or a passionate artist, but of a soldier that was there.
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- LAmetalbender
- 08-07-18
Authentic.
Anyone who thinks “I would never be war criminal killer” should read this book. This book is a true gem because Caputo brings you on his journey into the darkness of his war and his frustrated futility of war. The ending is a surprising cascade of events where I see myself doing the same things.
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