{"product_id":"peace-is-a-shy-thing-alex-vernon-9781250358493","title":"Peace Is a Shy Thing: The Life and Art of Tim O'Brien","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first literary biography of Tim O'Brien, the preeminent American writer of the war in Vietnam and one of the best writers of his generation, drawing on never-before-seen materials and original interviews.\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e\"Vietnam made me a writer.\" --Tim O'Brien\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Featuring over one hundred interviews with family, friends, peers, and others--not to mention countless exchanges with Tim O'Brien himself--\u003ci\u003ePeace is a Shy Thing\u003c\/i\u003e provides a nearly day-by-day, gripping account of O'Brien's thirteen months as an infantryman in Vietnam and gives equal diligence to reconstructing O'Brien's writing process. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e This meticulously researched biography explores the life and journey that turned O'Brien into a literary icon and a household name. It includes an unpublished short story about O'Brien from a college girlfriend, documentation of his comical involvement with the \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e's coverage of Watergate, and a 1989 attic exchange between American and Vietnamese writers on the eve of the publication of O'Brien's most beloved book, \u003ci\u003eThe Things They Carried\u003c\/i\u003e, years before the two countries normalized relations. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003ePeace is a Shy Thing\u003c\/i\u003e is as much a history of the era as it is a story of O'Brien's life, from his small-town midwestern mid-century childhood, to winning the National Book Award and his status as literary elder statesman. A story which Vernon, a combat veteran of the Persian Gulf War and a literary scholar trained by officers and professors of the Vietnam era, is uniquely suited to tell.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Alex Vernon\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1250358493\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781250358493\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e St. Martin's Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/27\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 560\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.25h x 6.12w x 1.00d","brand":"Alex Vernon","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46571375231231,"sku":"9781250358493","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_73f3bfc5-8f2d-4954-ae99-b01fca3d78f1.jpg?v=1738808050","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/peace-is-a-shy-thing-alex-vernon-9781250358493","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}