Tracing the American experience of the Vietnam War from its popular inception to its morale-crushing and bitter conclusion, Vietnam: A View from the Frontlines is a grunt's-eye view of the conflict - from the steaming rice paddies and swamps of the Mekong Delta, to the triple-canopy rainforest of the Central Highlands, to the forlorn Marine bases that dotted the DMZ. Like Karl Marlantes' ground-breaking novel Mattherhorn, this book will change the way we think about Vietnam. Told in the uncompromising, no-holds barred language of the soldiers themselves, the stories contained within this book detail everything from heroism to battle, and from helicopters hitting the LZs to the impact on soldiers' loved ones at home. It is a true and grippingly accurate portrait of the American war in Vietnam through the eyes of the soldiers, medics, corpsmen, nurses and widows who experienced it. The book is based on rich collections housed at the Center of Military History and at the Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech.