This book comprehensively studies the content, author demographics, publishing history, and media representation of the most prominent Vietnam veteran memoirs published between 1967 and 2005. These personal narratives are important because they have affected the collective memory of the Vietnam War for decades. The primary focus of this study is an analysis of how veterans' memoirs depict seven critical topics: the demographics of American soldiers, combat, the Vietnamese people, race relations among U.S. troops, male-female relationships, veterans' postwar lives, and war-related political issues.

Another concern of this book is the relationship of veteran memoirs to broader trends in public remembrance of the Vietnam War and how and why some readers, but not others, achieved recognition and influence. These issues are explored by charting the publishing history of veteran narratives over a thirty-eight-year period.

By giving some types of narratives preference over others, the media and the publishing industry helped shape the public's collective understanding of the war.