FRANKLIN LIBRARY LEATHER Tim O'Brien THE THINGS THEY CARRIED Hand Signed 1st Ed.

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FRANKLIN LIBRARY THE THINGS THEY CARRIED Tim O'Brien With a specially commissioned frontispiece by Steve Karchin Beautiful Topgrain Leather Signed Limited First Edition One of the "Signed First Edition Society" Collection, privately printed by the Franklin Library, and personally signed by author Tim O'Brien I wish Tim O’Brien did not write so beautifully, for he makes it impossible to forget his book… Years from now it will still have that terrible power to make me remember and to make me weep.” Gloria Emerson, The New York Times Part fiction, part true story, The Things They Carried is Tim O'Brien's award-winning collection of linked short stories about a platoon of foot soldiers enmeshed in the horror of the Vietnam War. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Things They Carried was published in 1990. Several of the chapters of the book had been previously anthologized in Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards and The Best American Short Stories , and the title story, originally published in Esquire , won the 1987 National Magazine Award in fiction. But this current work, representing a more total vision, delivers the full power of O’Brien at his best – the stories and their character weaving in and out of each installment, tied together by O’Brien’s own voice, that of a 43 year old writer recalling his Vietnam experience as a 23 year old infantryman . Here are just a few excerpts from the title chapter of The Things They Carried : The things they carried were largely determined by necessity. Among the necessities or near-necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, Military Payment Certificates, C rations, and two or three canteens of water. Together, these items weighed between 15 and 20 pounds, depending upon a man’s habits or rate of metabolism. Henry Dobbins, who was a big man, carried extra rations; he was especially fond of canned peaches in heavy syrup over pound cake. Dave Jensen, who practiced field hygiene, carried a toothbrush, dental floss, and several hotel-sized bars of soap he’d stolen on R&R in Sydney, Australia. Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried tranquilizers until he was shot in the head outside the village of Than Khe in mid-April. By necessity, and because it was SOP, they all carried steel helmets that weighed 5 pounds including the liner and camouflage cover. They carried the standard fatigue jackets and trousers. Very few carried underwear….. In addition to the three standard weapons – the M-6o, M-16 and M-79 – they carried whatever presented itself, or whatever seemed appropriate as a means of killing or staying alive. They carried catch-as-catch-can. At various times, in various situations, they carried M-14s and CAR15s and Swedish Ks and grease guns and captured AK47s and Chi-Coms and RPGs and Simonov carbines and black market Uzis and .38-caliber Smith & Wesson handguns and 66 min LAWS and shotguns and silencers and blackjacks and bayonets and C-4 plastic explosives. Lee Strunk carried a slingshot; a weapon of last resort, he called it. Mitchell Sanders carried brass knuckles. Kiowa carried his grandfather’s feathered hatchet. Every third or fourth man carried a Claymore antipersonnel mine – 3.5 pounds with its firing device. They call carried fragmentation grenades – 14 ounces each. They all carried at least one M-18 colored smoke grenade – 24 ounces. Some carried CS or tear gas grenades. Some carried white phosphorous grenades. They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried…. Often, they carried each other, the wounded or weak. They carried infections. They carried chess sets. Basketballs, Vietnamese-English dictionaries, insignia of rank, Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts, plastic cards imprinted w... read more

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