They carried pictures, love letters, malaria tablets, Bibles, dope, a rabbit's foot, and each other. And, if they made it home alive, they carried unrelenting images of a controversial war that history is only now beginning to absorb.
The Things They Carried is the story of Alpha Company. It is the story of how men lived and died fighting in Vietnam, but it's also the story of how men survived the brutality to ultimately "carry on," to find sympathy and kindness in a world full of hurt and deception. This is more than a war novel; it is an exploration of what it means to be human. Since it was first published, it has become a classic work of American literature and a profound study of men at war that illuminates the capacity, and the limits, of the human heart and soul.
