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James Webb

Fields of Fire: A Novel Mass Market Paperback – August 28, 2001

by James Webb (Author)

4.5 3,168 ratings

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“In my opinion, the finest of the Vietnam novels.”—Tom Wolfe

They each had their reasons for joining the Marines. They each had their illusions. Goodrich came from Harvard. Snake got the tattoo—“Death Before Dishonor”—before he got the uniform. Hodges was haunted by the ghosts of family heroes. They were three young men from different worlds, plunged into a white-hot, murderous realm of jungle warfare as it was fought by one Marine platoon in the An Hoa Basin, 1969. They had no way of knowing what awaited them. Nothing could have prepared them for the madness to come. And in the heat and horror of battle they took on new identities, took on one another, and were each reborn in fields of fire.

Fields of Fire is James Webb’s classic novel of the Vietnam War, a novel of poetic power, razor-sharp observation, and agonizing human truths seen through the prism of nonstop combat. Weaving together a cast of vivid characters, Fields of Fire captures the journey of unformed men through a man-made hell—until each man finds his fate.

Praise for Fields of Fire

“Few writers since Stephen Crane have portrayed men at war with such a ring of steely truth.”—The Houston Post

“A stunner . . . Webb gives us an extraordinary range of acutely observed people, not one a stereotype, and as many different ways of looking at that miserable war.”—Newsweek

“A novel of such fullness and impact, one is tempted to compare it to Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead.”—The Oregonian

“Webb’s book has the unmistakable sound of truth acquired the hard way. His men hate the war; it is a lethal fact cut adrift from personal sense. Yet they understand that its profound insanity, its blood and oblivion, have in some way made them fall in love with battle and with each other.”—Time

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Print length

480 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Bantam
Publication date

August 28, 2001
Dimensions

4.13 x 0.99 x 6.87 inches
ISBN-10

0553583859
ISBN-13

978-0553583854
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3,168 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book easy to read and engaging. They describe the story as captivating, intriguing, and gripping. The writing quality is praised as well-crafted and descriptive. Readers appreciate the author's meaningful insights and realistic depiction of war. The character development is praised as awesome, with a colorful cast that makes you feel like they are real people. Overall, customers find the book refreshing and engrossing.

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Readability Story quality Writing quality Insight Character development Engrossedness Emotion level Pacing

183 customers mention "Readability"170 positive13 negative

Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They describe it as a great novel about the war told through the experiences of a soldier. Readers consider it an important work that reads like nonfiction.

"...What I found (or re-discovered) is a tremendous accomplishment by James Webb that more than compensates for minor shortcomings in style with an..." Read more

"...In summary, I think this is a very important book by a very decorated and brave individual that shows the mental conflicts and pain of war...." Read more

"I found this novel to be an interesting read, but was it really necessary for almost everyone to die?..." Read more

"...Mr Webb, along with being experienced, is obviously extremely well read as his choice of words and phrasing exhibits...." Read more

150 customers mention "Story quality"140 positive10 negative

Customers find the story gripping and engrossing. They appreciate the human drama and daily struggles of the characters. The battle scenes are mesmerizing, with an interesting twist on the typical war novel. The book is harrowing and heroic, written with authenticity and graphic examples. It's a gut-wrenching trip to the past and a must-read for anyone who wants to know more about the Vietnam War.

"...And highly recommend this book as being the very best narrative of its kind." Read more

"...Fields of Fire" is highly recommended - an utterly gripping American novel that fully deserves to be considered a classic, if it isn't already." Read more

"...If you can take it, be sure to read this incredible story." Read more

"...The depictions of infantry combat are technically accurate without reading like an FM, and the way Webb describes infantry banter gives outsiders an..." Read more

82 customers mention "Writing quality"64 positive18 negative

Customers find the book well-written and engaging. They appreciate the author's skill in description and three-dimensional characters. The format of the presentation is also appreciated, folding mini-biographies of characters into witty dialogue. It allows readers to understand and resonate with the brutal, hard life depicted.

"...Webb’s Marines are complex and nuanced characters, far from the stereotypes that so many held for our “grunts” during those times when we first..." Read more

"...We are America's warrior class. Boy am I digressing, the book is well written and insightful if you have any interest in the Vietnam &#..." Read more

"...That's when we knew he was going to be on our side." The book is well-written and deserving...." Read more

"...And although his descriptions are largely unadorned, they paint surprisingly effective portraits of the Vietnamese landscape and the men fighting..." Read more

54 customers mention "Insight"54 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's insights and realistic writing. They find the story engaging, with detailed descriptions of the characters' backgrounds and rationales. The author takes readers on an emotional journey that they won't soon forget.

"...It might help you understand why men fight and how that experience bonds men forever. Webb (Hodges) was a born fighter, he had a feel for the bush...." Read more

"...of individual character development and has a way of making meaningful observations from the utter chaos of small unit combat in the blind alleys..." Read more

"...A must read for every concerned citizen." Read more

"...I became completely engrossed by the human drama and daily struggles of this group of Marines as their life and death struggle played out in the..." Read more

48 customers mention "Character development"44 positive4 negative

Customers enjoy the book's character development. They find the portrayal of the characters' lives before, during, and after the war poignant. The author develops three-dimensional characters with a colorful cast and witty dialogue that make you feel as if they are real. The authentic patriotism, heroism, dedication, and sacrifice of the soldiers shine through. The honest and gripping tale of a young officer at war is described as gripping.

"...Great character development. Highly recommend" Read more

"...Webb’s Marines are complex and nuanced characters, far from the stereotypes that so many held for our “grunts” during those times when we first..." Read more

"...I think this is a very important book by a very decorated and brave individual that shows the mental conflicts and pain of war...." Read more

"...frontline Vietnam experience, along with some effective backstory snippets for the main characters along the lines of Mailer's seminal 'The Naked..." Read more

23 customers mention "Engrossedness"23 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging with its vivid descriptions and realistic depiction of war. They find it refreshing and rewarding, providing a true sense of what it was like to be a grunt in Vietnam. The book keeps their attention and allows them to understand and relate to the brutal life of a grunt.

"...more accomplished and grandiose, "Fields of Fire" is every bit as intense, harrowing, authentic, rewarding, and, finally, more accessible...." Read more

"...The book was very well written and really gave the reader a true feeling of what it was like to spend a year in VN...." Read more

"...I could not put it down. I found it compelling, interesting, and all-too-real. I felt like I knew the guys in the platoon...." Read more

"So interesting, so well written.Every page had me right there in country living, breathing,eating and fighting with these brave men...." Read more

22 customers mention "Emotion level"17 positive5 negative

Customers find the book engaging with its emotional content. They find the characters sympathetic and convincing. The story evokes vivid memories and brings up issues like history, politics, and human nature. Overall, readers describe it as hard to put down and difficult to forget.

"...for minor shortcomings in style with an intense authenticity and compassion...." Read more

"The gritty realism is deftly woven as nuances, motivations, emotions, envelope the characters, which are absent in nonfiction...." Read more

"...parts, particularly in the latter part, that so effectively convey the conflicting emotions of the Vietnam War, the military, and the student..." Read more

"...But this is not a light read and will challenge your feelings of the war." Read more

22 customers mention "Pacing"19 positive3 negative

Customers find the book's pacing intense and gripping. They describe it as a gritty, tough war novel that doesn't disappoint. The characters are believable and the journey to the front lines is exceptional. Readers appreciate the author's honest and courageous writing style.

"...He's very good at being a marine. Thinks clearly about what he needs to do and wont stand for any BS from anyone...." Read more

"...A good, tough war novel that doesn't disappoint." Read more

"...your neck, yanks you out of your comfortable chair and transports you to the front lines and forces you to experience for yourself the raw sights,..." Read more

"...Anyway, to the book, well done! I liked the set up and the pacing...." Read more

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Donald Negri
Excellent, but I have a question or two
Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2012
Verified Purchase
I read this before reading "Matterhorn" - the much-praised recent novel, which, while it mirrors "Fields of Fire" in many respects, lacks both the concision and the superb writing skills evidenced in James Webb's book. In other words, you can get the essence of "Matterhorn" in a shorter much more readable version by getting Webb's book. In particular, descriptions of combat itself are much more terrifying.

ALERT:
That said, I am a bit perplexed by the character of Goodwin in the epilogue (which is both a
structural balance with the prologue introduction of several of the main characters and a moving depiction of the effect of death and wounds on families). But, in Goodwin's case I can't help but find a disconnect between his feelings while in country, where from day one he considers the war meaningless and wishes to be out of country, with the epilogue where
he defends the war, be it mildly (with Mark) or in something akin to a ramble when addressing the rally (why he was chosen is curious, other than for his wound, because there was a branch of VVAW at Harvard at the time). Yeah, I get the point that to really understand the reality of the war from a grunt's point of view, you had to have been there, but that doesn't negate the validity having a "macro" position on the war, even if you were never going to have to serve.

And, my second head-scratcher: Goodwin was appalled at the execution of two probable VC by Snake and others, and went so far as to make a formal complaint (with consequence he couldn't imagine at the time). And nothing afterwards indicates he had any regrets....But then, when talking with two organizers of the peace rally, he blurts out that he would have had no qualms about tracking down ånd killing the young girl he believes led them into the ambush. In short, I'm left with a very puzzled understanding of him. Maybe that was Webb's intention, but it reads like some kind of authorial final word on the war.

I'll leave it at that. And highly recommend this book as being the very best narrative of its kind.

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Gary J.
insightful, compelling, and sad
Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2023
Verified Purchase
This is hard to put into words. This is probably one of the best novels of our Vietnam experience I have ever read. The book pulls you in and not only puts you into the terror of combat but places you into all of the characters involved. Not only should it be read by anyone ready to enter such an environment, but by those who put our best in that situation. As a veteran who served during this conflict but not in Vietnam, Fields of Fire touched me deeply.

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Rick Spell
Did he try to cover too much?
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2001
Verified Purchase
After reading "The Nightingale Song", which covers Webb's career at Annapolis and Washington, I was compelled to read this book. A conservative person who fought valiantly but underwent a metamorphis after the war and became more liberal, this book was clearly a method to exorcise the pain of the war for Webb.
Unfortunately, I was traveling when I read this and read in many short periods. I became extremely engrossed in the battle tales but failed to connect with the characters as well as I would have liked. Irrespective, I would agree that this sounds like the most realistic book describing what it was like to be in the field in Vietnam. But Webb covered much more than just a platoon that suffers heavy casualties. A brief part of the book covers a young officer in Okinawaw who develops a love interest with a young Japanese girl with the relevant cultural issues that arise when he proposes.
The battle scenes are mezmerizing like the three men sent outside the perimeter stupidly by command who are terribly overrun and must lay wounded in the midst of the enemy all night. In many respects this book seemed to closely parallel the movie Platoon.
But the most unexpected part of the book was the dialog from the Vietnamese scout who was a former Viet Cong who defects only to have his family killed. This was great perspective on what was going on in the minds of the Vietnamese people who generally hated the Americans for their brutal treatment.
In summary, I think this is a very important book by a very decorated and brave individual that shows the mental conflicts and pain of war. I encourage you to read this if you want to learn of the brutality of war. But this is not a light read and will challenge your feelings of the war.

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cory
great book
Reviewed in Canada on March 29, 2022
Verified Purchase
very good read

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Amazon Kunde
Sehr lesenswert
Reviewed in Germany on October 3, 2022
Verified Purchase
Wer sich für eine realistische Darstellung des Vietnamkrieges interessiert, hier ist sie. Ohne Pathos, ohne retrospektive Erkenntnisse, ehrlich und sehr gut lesbar.

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J. J. Bradshaw
One of the best novels of the Vietnam war, brutal and conveys the dehumanising effects of war
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 29, 2019
Verified Purchase
This is an old book, I remember reading it many years ago when it left a profound impression on me. I was reluctant to revisit it as generally I find it disappointing to have golden memories of old experiences shattered by revisiting reality, but I'm happy to say that in this case the book did not disappoint me at all.

The book follows a squad of marines in Vietnam, with flash back episodes to the lives of the various members of the squad at home. Most novels (and many non-fiction works on the subject) seem to fall into one of two camps, either regurgitating anti-war clichés or alternatively imagine that the US won a war but was failed by a spineless society and politicians at home. In both cases it is about re-fighting old battles. This book is unusual in that it is neither, and it treats the soldiers as human beings, warts and all but nevertheless human beings. In a way the book has something in common with Remarque's classic "All Quiet on the Western Front" in that the book provides a fictionalised story based on the actual wartime experiences of the writer and basically just tells a story and leaves the reader to figure out what they think of it all.

At times the book is very violent, and it does not shy away from the horrors of war (and counter-insurgency type operations can be particularly brutal) and in places it does make for disturbing reading. The ending in it's own way demonstrates both the de-humanising of young soldiers in such a savage war and the tendentious and self righteous attitude of parts of the anti-war movement.

James Webb was a decorated soldier who served in Vietnam, and whatever one might think of his politics I think his record of service gives him a right to write such a book, and perhaps surprisingly it is a much more balanced book than most books about Vietnam. The writer shows the horror of that awful war without being patronising or turning the characters into caricatures or falling into the usual cliché's.

A great book, 5*.

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Steve Jay
Everything war is
Reviewed in Australia on April 3, 2020
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I've never been in war but I would imagine how it would be, from joy to despair, courage to cowardice, compassion to hatred, empathy to blind anger in fact, pretty much every emotion, feeling or act known to man, from one extreme to the other and everything in between, is the closest I will ever get without being there .

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Peter Harris
Ok
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 21, 2023
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OK, nice holiday read a bit of a page turner. The plot is a bit predictable, but it is well written

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