Senior Library Books
Resource Key
When accessing content use the numbers below to guide you:
LEVEL 1
brief, basic information laid out in an easy-to-read format. May use informal language. (Includes most news articles)
LEVEL 2
provides additional background information and further reading. Introduces some subject-specific language.
LEVEL 3
lengthy, detailed information. Frequently uses technical/subject-specific language. (Includes most analytical articles)
Podcast
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Conan, N. (2010, March 24). 'The Things They Carried,' 20 years on [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125128156
O'Brien wrote parts of The Things They Carried 20 years after his service in Vietnam. 40 years since the war, he still carries it with him.
Databases
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JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Scholarly resources on JSTOR include Archival and Current Journals, Books, and Primary Sources.
Introduction
The Things They Carried is a meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling. [It] depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O'Brien, who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three.
The soldiers in this collection of stories carried M-16 rifles, M-60 machine guns, and M-79 grenade launchers. They carried plastic explosives, hand grenades, flak jackets, and landmines. But they also carried letters from home, illustrated Bibles, and pictures of their loved ones. Some of them carried extra food or comic books or drugs. Every man carried what he needed to survive, and those who did carried their shattering stories away from the jungle and back to a nation that would never understand.
Biography
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Tim O’Brien. (2016). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://school.eb.com.au.db.plcscotch.wa.edu.au/levels/high/article/104659
Tim O’Brien (born October 1, 1946, Austin, Minnesota, U.S.) is an American novelist noted for his writings about American soldiers in the Vietnam War.
Big Think Interview
Big Think. (2012, April 23). Big Think interview with Tim O'Brien [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QNaertB9uY
Writing and War - Ethical Issues
Stanford. (2011, February 3). A conversation with Tim O'Brien on writing & war [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vcmASDmEr8
Reviews
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Harris, R. R. (1990, March 11). Too embarrassed not to kill. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/11/books/too-embarrassed-not-to-kill.html?pagewanted=all
Only a handful of novels and short stories have managed to clarify, in any lasting way, the meaning of the war in Vietnam for America and for the soldiers who served there. With ''The Things They Carried,'' Tim O'Brien adds his second title to the short list of essential fiction about Vietnam.
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Greenya, J. (2010, April 2). Book review: ‘The Things They Carried’. Retrieved from http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/2/book-review-the-things-they-carried/
Many people think this is the best work of fiction ever written about Vietnam. Some even think it is the best work of fiction ever written about war. Both are right, and they were right 20 years ago when this book came out for the first time.