James Webb's intense novel about Vietnam, Fields of Fire was mentioned in Rachel Maddow's Drift and it was this recommendation that made me want to read it. Weaving together a cast of vivid characters, Fields of Fire captures the journey of unformed men through a man-made hell - until each man finds his fate.'. And in the heat and horror of battle they took on new identities, took on each other, and were each reborn in fields of fire.įields of Fire is James Webb’s classic, searing novel of the Vietnam War, a novel of poetic power, razor-sharp observation, and agonizing human truths seen through the prism of nonstop combat. Nothing could have prepared them for the madness to come. They had no way of knowing what awaited them. And Hodges was haunted by the ghosts of family heroes. Snake got the tattoo - Death Before Dishonor - before he got the uniform.
'They each had their reasons for being a soldier.
Snake got the tat Originally published in 1978, Webb's classic novel of the Vietnam War follows three soldiers from different worlds who are plunged into a white-hot murderous realm of jungle warfare as it was fought by one Marine platoon in the An Hoa Basin in 1969. Originally published in 1978, Webb's classic novel of the Vietnam War follows three soldiers from different worlds who are plunged into a white-hot murderous realm of jungle warfare as it was fought by one Marine platoon in the An Hoa Basin in 1969.