This Is a True War Story - by Robert K Brigham (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Many a historian feels compelled at some point to write about a subject close to them personally. Robert Brigham did not think he would be doing that, until at age 58 he learned some shocking truths about his past-and his own identity-that changed forever how he saw himself and his lifelong study of the Vietnam War. In a story shot through with echoes and coincidences, Brigham not only reveals his own story as an adoptee but opens a startlingly fresh vantage on the fragility of American families; the power of social norms and taboos to shape lives; and the forces that inequitably disrupt families, not least of them war"--

Book Synopsis

A personal account by a war historian and adoptee who discovers his biological father was a famous Marine combat photographer in Vietnam.

Robert K. Brigham has had a substantial career as a historian of the Vietnam War, with a hand in nine books, a documentary, public history projects, and more. While many a historian has felt compelled at some point to write about a subject close to them personally, Brigham did not think he was doing that. But, at age fifty-eight, Brigham, who had long known he was adopted, discovered that he'd improbably and unknowingly been studying and talking about his biological father for decades. That man, Bruce Atwell, was a Marine Corps photographer who took some of that war's most indelible and widely reproduced pictures. Brigham had used those images over and over again in decades' worth of classes and public lectures, never knowing the truth.

Both Brigham and Atwell were products of the American foster care and adoption system, and both were defined professionally by Vietnam. In a story shot through with echoes and shadows, Brigham not only reveals his own history as an adoptee but opens a startlingly fresh vantage on the fragility of American families; the power of social norms and taboos to shape lives; and the forces that inequitably disrupt families, not least of them war. The result is an accessible and moving book that is at once both a powerful personal story and an illuminating social critique.

Review Quotes

"In This Is a True War Story, Brigham disassembles a life and a nation. One marvels at the craft of telling two equally consequential stories with so much particularity. The memoir genre has not created anything like this. All Americans shaped by war must read this."

--Kiese Laymon, author of 'Heavy: An American Memoir' (12/5/2025 12:00:00 AM)

"This memoir reads like a captivating detective story. I read the book in two sessions, wanting to find out whether Brigham, an orphan kept from knowing his birth parents by misguided adoption laws of the 1960s will find his "Vietnam father" and birth mother. Longing for the missing father has been a compelling literary theme ever since Homer wrote about Telemachus searching for Odysseus. Brigham renders it masterfully."

--Karl Marlantes, Vietnam veteran and author of 'What It Is Like To Go To War'

"This is a True War Story is a highly readable saga about an adoptee's lifelong journey to find his birth father. From the time that he was seven years old, the author fantasized that his birth father was serving in Vietnam. Often wrenching, this is an inspiring story of undying hope and perseverance in the face of daunting odds. A must-read for those who have been fostered, orphaned, and/or adopted, or who have an interest in the dynamics of families. This is a phenomenal - at times almost unbelievable - story. Bravo!"--Jack McLean, Vietnam veteran and author of 'Found: A Veteran Story'

"--Frances FitzGerald, author of 'Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam'

About the Author

Robert K. Brigham is the Shirley Ecker Boskey Professor of History and International Relations at Vassar College. He is the author or coauthor of ten books, among them Reckless: Henry Kissingerand the Tragedy of Vietnam.