Author guide

Tim O'Brien Books in Order

William Timothy O'Brien is an American writer whose fiction and memoir draw extensively on his Vietnam War service. His major works include the National Book Award-winning novel Going After Cacciato, the short-story collection The Things They Carried, and the novels In the Lake of the Woods, Tomcat in Love, July, July, and America Fantastica. His nonfiction includes If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home and Dad's Maybe Book.

literary fictionwar literaturememoirshort stories

Catalog record updated August 25, 2026.

Tim O'Brien's Newest Book

America Fantastica

novel · First published 2023

The adventure of Boyd Halverson—star journalist turned notorious online disinformation troll turned JCPenney manager—and his irrepressible hostage, Angie Bing, starts with a bank robbery. Haunted by his past and weary of his present, Boyd has one goal before the authorities catch up with him: settle a score with the man who destroyed his life. By Monday the pair reach Mexico; by winter, they are in a lakefront mansion in Minnesota. On their trail are hitmen, jealous lovers, ex-cons, an heiress, a billionaire shipping tycoon, a three-tour veteran of Iraq, and the ghosts of Boyd’s past. Everyone, it seems, except the police. In the tradition of Jonathan Swift and Mark Twain, America Fantastica delivers a biting, witty, and entertaining story about the causes and costs of outlandish fantasy, while also marking the triumphant return of an essential voice in American letters. And at the heart of the novel, amid a teeming cast of characters, readers will delight in the tug-of-war between two memorable and iconic human beings—the exuberant savior-of-souls Angie Bing and the penitent but compulsive liar Boyd Halverson. Just as Tim O’Brien’s modern classic, *The Things They Carried*, so brilliantly reflected the unromantic truth of war, *America Fantastica* puts a mirror to a nation and a time that has become dangerously unmoored from truth and greedy for delusion.

Not sure where to begin?

Start with one of these

The Things They Carried

The best-known and most representative introduction to O'Brien's distinctive treatment of war, memory, and story-truth.

Going After Cacciato

A foundational early novel and National Book Award winner that establishes his imaginative approach to the Vietnam War.

If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home

A direct memoir-based starting point for understanding the experiences underlying much of his fiction.

Outside the series

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Novels (7)

Northern Lights
novel · 1975

A CLASSIC FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE THINGS THEY CARRIED Originally published in 1975, Tim O'Brien's debut novel demonstrates the emotional complexity and enthralling narrative tension that later earned him the…
Going After Cacciato
novel · 1978

In a blend of reality and fantasy, this novel tells the story of a young soldier who one day lays down his rifle and sets off on a quixotic journey from the jungles of Indochina to the streets of Paris. In its memorable evocation of men…
The Nuclear Age
novel · 1985
In the Lake of the Woods
novel · 1994

This riveting novel of love and mystery from the author of The Things They Carried examines the lasting impact of the twentieth century’s legacy of violence and warfare, both at home and abroad. When long-hidden secrets about the…
Tomcat in Love
novel · 1998

In a tour de force of black comedy, award-winning novelist Tim O'Brien explores the battle of the sexes and creates a savage, startlingly inventive tale with a memorably maddening hero, a modern-day Don Juan who embodies the desires and…
July, July
novel · 2002

At the thirtieth reunion of Minnesota's Darton Hall College class of 1969, ten old friends join their classmates for a July weekend of dancing, drinking, flirting, reminiscing, regretting. The three decades since their graduation have…
America Fantastica
novel · 2023

The adventure of Boyd Halverson—star journalist turned notorious online disinformation troll turned JCPenney manager—and his irrepressible hostage, Angie Bing, starts with a bank robbery. Haunted by his past and weary of his present, Boyd…

Nonfiction (2)

If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home
memoir · 1973

A candid view of the American military establishment and the Vietnam conflict as witnessed by a foot soldier in the late sixties.
Dad's Maybe Book
memoir · 2019

Short fiction (1)

The Things They Carried
short-story-collection · 1990

*The Things They Carried* (1990) is a collection of linked short stories by American novelist Tim O'Brien, about a platoon of American soldiers fighting on the ground in the Vietnam War. His third book about the war, it is based upon his…

Frequently asked questions about Tim O'Brien

Who is Tim O'Brien?

Tim O'Brien is an American novelist, short-story writer, and memoirist best known for writing shaped by his service in the Vietnam War.

Sources: loc.gov (opens in a new tab)mnhs.gitlab.io (opens in a new tab)

When and where was Tim O'Brien born, and where did he study?

He was born on October 1, 1946, in Austin, Minnesota. He earned a political science degree from Macalester College in 1968 and later pursued graduate studies at Harvard University.

Source: mnhs.gitlab.io (opens in a new tab)

Did Tim O'Brien serve in Vietnam, and how did it influence his writing?

Yes. Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1968, he served as an infantryman in Vietnam until 1970; he has said that the experience made him feel a need to write and became central to his literary treatment of war and memory.

Sources: loc.gov (opens in a new tab)mnhs.gitlab.io (opens in a new tab)

What major award did Tim O'Brien win?

He won the 1979 National Book Award for Fiction for Going After Cacciato.

Source: nationalbook.org (opens in a new tab)

Why is Tim O'Brien important to American literature?

The Library of Congress identifies him as one of the finest writers to focus on the Vietnam War and highlights his influential blending of fiction and nonfiction to convey the war's effects. His work helped make memory, trauma, and moral ambiguity central concerns of modern American war literature.

Sources: wwws.loc.gov (opens in a new tab)loc.gov (opens in a new tab)