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A Rumor of War
Phillip Caputo Book Review

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Plot Summary of A Rumor of War
"Phillip Caputo was a Marine Lieutenant during the first years of the Vietnam War. His story is personal, recounting the atrocities of war and the way they affected him and other he knew. Caputo witnesses the deaths of friends and enemies, and his youthful idealism is systematically broken down by the horrors he participates in and observes in Vietnam. The memoir centers around a frightening moment, during which Caputo allows his depressed, defeated, and wildly angry platoon to massacre a Vietnamese village without any provocation."
Judy Berman, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of A Rumor of War
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
War/Cloak & Dagger story? - Led as soldier
War/Spying Yes
Period of greatest activity? - 1950+
Which war? - Vietnam

Subject of Biography
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - infantry soldier
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
Ethnicity - White
Nationality - American (!)
How sensitive is this person? - sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other people

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 8 (a significant amount)
Asia/Pacific Yes
Jungles? Yes
Misc setting - fort/military installation
Century: - 1960's-1970's

Style
Person - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - very explicit references to deaths and torture
Book makes you feel? - depressed
Lot of foul language? Yes
Commentary on society? Yes
Commentary on - war
Story of entire life, or part? - story of set of events during life
Autobiography? Yes
How much dialogue in bio? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to A Rumor of War
Steel My Soldiers' Hearts by David Hackworth
Rogue Warrior by Richard Marcinko
In Retrospect by Robert McNamara
If Morning Never Comes by Bill Vandenbush
In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War by Tobias Wolff


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Phillip Caputo Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Judy Berman  

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