First with Guns

Inspired by Vietnam War classics like Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried and Karl Marlantes’s Matterhorn, First with Guns is a thought-provoking exploration of personal identity set amidst a war and an era that forever altered American identity. The novel follows William Dougherty’s journey into manhood from a disturbing childhood in rural Nebraska to aerial combat in Vietnam. Early in his deployment, Dougherty commits a notorious blunder that destroys his Commanding Officer’s Huey. The ...