Paperback. Pub Date: 2006 Pages: 208 Publisher: Harper Perennial Perhaps the best book to emerge from the Vietnam War If I Die in a Combat Zone is a Fascinating Insight into the lives of the Soldiers caught in The conflict.First. published in 1973. this intensely personal novel about one foot soldier's tour of duty in Vietnam established Tim O'ien's reputation as the outstanding chronicler of the Vietnam experience for a generation of Americans.From basic training to the front line and back again. he takes the reader on an unforgettable journey - walking the minefields of My Lai. fighting the heat and the snipers in an alien land. crawling into the ghostly tunnels - as he explores the ambiguities of manhood and morality in a war no one believes in.