1 Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
Robert Olen Butler (1945– )
Fiction writer who became fluent in Vietnamese while working in counter-
intelligence during the Vietnam War. A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, a
collection of short stories, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993. Other works include
Tabloid Dreams (1997), The Deep Green Sea (1999), Had a Good Time: Stories from
American Postcards (2004), and Severance (2006).
Lan Cao (1975– )
Attorney who was born in Saigon and writes fiction and nonfiction. She is the
author of Monkey Bridge (1997) and coauthor of Everything You Need to Know
about Asian Americans (1996).
Michael Casey (1947– )
Poet who served as a military policeman in Vietnam from 1968 to 1970. He has
written Obscenities (1972), On Scales (1972), My Youngest That Tall (1972), and My
Brother-in-Law and Me (1974).
John M. Del Vecchio (1947– )
Journalist and fiction writer served who as a combat correspondent in Vietnam
in 1969 and earned a Bronze Star. He is the author of The 13th Valley (1982) and
For the Sake of All Living Things (1990).
W. D. Ehrhart (1948– )
Known mostly as a “Vietnam War poet.” He enlisted in the United States Marine
Corps in 1966 and served in Vietnam for thirteen months. His poetry collections
include A Generation of Peace (1975), The Samisdat Poems (1980), To Those Who
Have Gone Home Tired (1984), and Just for Laughs (1990). His work also appears
in Winning Hearts and Minds: War Poems by Vietnam Veterans (1972), edited by
Larry Rottmann, Jan Barry, and Basil T. Paquet, and he has written Vietnam-
Perkasie: A Combat Marine Memoir (1983).
Le Ly Hayslip (1949– )
Born Phùng Thi Lê Lý in South Vietnam and immigrated to the United States
after marrying an American serviceman. She has written two memoirs, When
Heaven and Earth Changed Places (1989), with Jay Wurts, and Child of War, Woman
of Peace (1993), with her son James Hayslip, that were adapted by the director
Oliver Stone for the film Heaven and Earth (1993).
Larry Heinemann (1944– )
Writer who served in Vietnam in 1967–1968. He has written two novels about
the war, Close Quarters (1977) and Paco’s Story (1986), and a memoir, Black Virgin
Mountain: A Return to Vietnam (2005). Paco’s Story won the National Book Award
in 1987.
Michael Herr (1940– )
Journalist and screenplay writer who was a correspondent for Esquire magazine
during the Vietnam War. Dispatches (1977) is his memoir about that experience.
He has also written The Big Room (1986) and Walter Winchell (1990). He cowrote
the screenplays for Apocalypse Now (1979) and Full Metal Jacket (1987).