The Things They Carried"O'Brien has written a vital, important book a book that matters not only to the reader interested in Vietnam but to anyone interested in the craft of writing as well." Michiko Kakutani, New York Times A classic work of American literature that has not stopped changing minds and lives since it burst onto the literary scene, The Things They Carried is a ground breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling.