1940s 1960s 1970s action action-packed adrenaline adventure adversity american american-dream american-history american-literature american-military american-soldiers american-war american-war-literature army army-life authentic battalion battle battle-of-matterhorn battle-scenes battlefields battles bestseller betrayal bloodshed bonds-of-friendship bravery brotherhood brothers-in-arms brutality bureaucracy camaradarie camaraderie character-development character-driven classic combat coming-of-age comradeship conflict confrontation consequences corruption courage danger death destiny discipline discrimination drama duty emotional endurance epic exploitation fate fear fiction forbidden-love friendship friendships gripping grit gritty grueling guerrilla-warfare hardship harrowing harsh-conditions hawaii hawaiian-islands helicopter helicopters hemingway heroism heroism. hierarchy historical historical-fiction honolulu honor hope human-spirit humanity iconic ideology impersonal-bureaucracy infantry infantrymen infidelity injustice innocence intense intense. intensity japanese-attack jungle jungle-warfare karl-marlantes leadership life loneliness loss love love-affair love-affairs loyalty manhood marine-corps marines matterhorn military military-fiction military-history military-life military-operations moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morale morality morality-in-war navy novel pacific-theater passion passionate patriotism pearl-harbor personal-growth personal-narrative platoon political politics power power-dynamics power-struggles psychological psychological-effects psychological-impact psychological-trauma psychological-warfare ptsd pulitzer-prize pulitzer-prize-finalist racism realism realistic realistic. redemption relationships resilience romance sacrifice sentimentality soldier soldiers soldiers-experience southeast-asia squad strategy struggle survival suspense tension tragedy trauma united-states-army unity us-army us-marine-corps us-marines veterans vietnam vietnam-veterans vietnam-war vietnam-war-fiction vietnamese violence visceral war war-atrocities war-epic war-experience war-fiction war-literature war-novel war-novels war-story war-strategy war-tactics war-trauma war-veterans war-zone warfare warriors world-war-ii