1970s 20th-century action action-packed adrenaline adventure adversity american american-dream american-history american-literature american-military american-soldiers american-war american-war-literature anti-war-sentiment army asia atmospheric authentic authentic-representation battalion battle battle-of-matterhorn battlefield battles belonging bloodshed bravery brotherhood brothers brothers-in-arms brutality bureaucracy camaradarie camaraderie character-development character-driven combat coming-of-age comrades comradeship conflict confrontation consequences courage danger death dense-prose draftees drama duty emotional emotions endurance epic espionage fear fiction fictional-war fictionalized-war friendship friendships gripping grit gritty grueling guerrilla-warfare harrowing harsh-realities helicopter helicopter-pilots helicopters hemingway heroic-journey heroism heroism. hierarchy hill historical historical-fiction honor hope horrors-of-war hueys human-resilience human-spirit humanity immersive infantry infantrymen injustice innocence insightful intense intensity jungle-warfare karl-marlantes leadership loss love loyalty manhood marine-corps marines matterhorn military military-fiction military-history military-operations moral-ambiguity moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morality novel patriotism perseverance personal-growth personal-narrative perspective platoon political politics power power-dynamics power-struggle psychological psychological-effects psychological-impact psychological-impact. psychological-trauma psychological-warfare ptsd pulitzer-prize-finalist racism realism realistic realistic-fiction realistic. redemption reflection resilience resistance sacrifice sentimentality sergeant soldier soldiers southeast-asia squad storytelling strategy struggle suffering survival suspense suspenseful tension tragedy transformation trauma united-states united-states-marine-corps united-states-marines us-army us-marine-corps us-marines us-military valor veterans vietnam vietnam-veterans vietnam-war vietnam-war-fiction vietnam-war-literature vietnamese 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