Overview

A personal account by a war historian and adoptee who discovers his biological father was a famous Marine combat photographer in Vietnam. Robert K. Brigham has had a substantial career as a historian of the Vietnam War, with a hand in nine books, a documentary, public history projects, and more. While many a historian has felt compelled at some point to write about a subject close to them personally, Brigham did not think he was doing that. But, at age 58, Brigham, who had long known he was adopted, discovered that he'd improbably and unknowingly been studying and talking about his real father for decades. That man, Bruce Atwell, was a Marine Corps photographer who took some of that war's most indelible and widely reproduced pictures. Brigham had used those images over and over again in decades' worth of classes and public lectures, never knowing the truth. Both Brigham and Atwell were products of the American foster care and adoption system, and both were defined professionally by Vietnam. In a story shot through with echoes and shadows, Brigham not only reveals his own history as an adoptee but opens a startlingly fresh vantage on the fragility of American families; the power of social norms and taboos to shape lives; and the forces that inequitably disrupt families, not least of them war. The result is an accessible and moving book that is at once both a powerful personal story and an illuminating social critique.

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9780226846880

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Reviews

""This is a True War Story is a highly readable saga about an adoptee’s lifelong journey to find his birth father. From the time that he was seven years old, the author fantasized that his birth father was serving in Vietnam. Often wrenching, this is an inspiring story of undying hope and perseverance in the face of daunting odds. A must-read for those who have been fostered, orphaned, and/or adopted, or who have an interest in the dynamics of families. This is a phenomenal - at times almost unbelievable - story. Bravo!"" -- Jack McLean, Vietnam veteran and author of 'Found: A Veteran Story' ""An orphan adopted at birth, Brigham dreams of his unknown father and imagines him as a hero in the Vietnam War. It's a moving story, and so extraordinary in its outcome that it's well 'true' is in the title."" -- Frances FitzGerald, author of 'Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam'

Author Information

Robert K. Brigham is the Shirley Ecker Boskey Professor of History and International Relations at Vassar College. He is the author or coauthor of ten books, among them Reckless: Henry Kissingerand the Tragedy of Vietnam.    

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