1960s 1961-1975 1969 1970s 20th-century [fic] action action-packed adrenaline adventure adversity american american-dream american-history american-literature american-military american-soldiers american-war american-war-fiction american-war-literature american-war. amp;recreation anti-war anti-war-sentiment army asia asian-american asian-setting atmospheric authentic authentic-representation authenticity author:-karl-marlantes battalion battle battle-of-matterhorn battle-scenes battlefield battlefields battles belonging black-humor bloodshed bonds-of-friendship bravery bravo-company brotherhood brotherly-bonds brothers brothers-in-arms brutality bureaucracy camaradarie camaraderie character-development character-driven collegesuccess combat combat-fiction coming-of-age comrades comradeship conflict confrontation consequences consequences-of-war courage courageous cultural-clash danger death dense-prose disillusionment draftees drama duty emotional emotions endurance english epic espionage exploitation fear fiction fictional-war fictionalized fictionalized-memoir fictionalized-war firefights first-person-perspective friendship friendships gripping grit gritty grueling guerrilla-warfare gunfights hardship harrowing harsh-conditions harsh-realities helicopter helicopter-pilots helicopters hemingway heroes heroic-journey heroism heroism. hierarchy hill historical historical-fiction history honor hope horrors-of-war hueys human-resilience human-spirit humanity ideology immersive impersonal-bureaucracy indochina infantry infantrymen injustice innocence insightful intense intense. intensity intrigue jungle jungle-warfare karl-marlantes leadership literary loneliness long-march loss love loyalty manhood marine marine-corps marines matterhorn matterhorn:-a-novel-of-the-vietnam-war military military-fiction military-history military-operations military-strategy moral-ambiguity moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morale morality morality-in-war narrative necessity. novel patriotism perseverance personal-growth personal-narrative personal-struggle perspective platoon political politics power power-dynamics power-struggle power-struggles psychological psychological-effects psychological-impact psychological-impact. psychological-trauma psychological-warfare ptsd pulitzer-prize-finalist racial-tension racism realism realistic realistic-fiction realistic. redemption reflection resilience resistance sacrifice sacrifices saigon sentimentality sergeant soldier soldiers soldiers-experience southeast-asia sports squad storytelling strategy struggle suffering survival suspense suspenseful tension tragedy transformation trauma trenches troops u.s.-marines unforgiving-terrain united-states united-states-marine-corps united-states-marines unity us-army us-marine-corps us-marines us-military valor veterans vietnam vietnam-veterans vietnam-war vietnam-war-fiction vietnam-war-literature vietnamconflict vietnamese vietnamization vietnamwar violence visceral war war-atrocities war-drama war-epic war-experience war-fiction war-literature war-narrative war-novel war-novels war-stories war-story war-strategies war-strategy war-tactics war-thriller war-trauma war-veterans war-violence war-zone warfare warriors