{"product_id":"peace-is-a-shy-thing-the-life-and-art-of-tim-obrien-alex-vernon-hardcover","title":"Peace Is a Shy Thing: The Life and Art of Tim O'Brien -- Alex Vernon, Hardcover","description":"\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\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. \u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ci\u003e\"Vietnam made me a writer.\" --Tim O'Brien\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\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 It includes an unpublished short story about O'Brien from a college girlfriend, documentation of his comical involvement with the \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e's coverage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.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e Alex Vernon\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e St. Martin's Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 5\/27\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 560\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/strong\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeight:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.72 lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9.44\" H x 6.45\" L x 1.47\" W\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9781250358493\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Flowerburst","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50584004428080,"sku":"9781250358493","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2712\/8368\/files\/9781250358493_390c1702-dae2-48ff-92fa-81495aeb6e8e.jpg?v=1775191205","url":"https:\/\/flowerburst.co\/products\/peace-is-a-shy-thing-the-life-and-art-of-tim-obrien-alex-vernon-hardcover","provider":"Flowerburst","version":"1.0","type":"link"}