'The things they carried', published in 1990, is Tim O'Brien's most famous book. William Timothy O'Brien (Tim O'Brien) was born in 1946 in Austin, Minnesota. He moved to Worthington at a young age and he used the scenery of the town as place where many of his stories took place. In 1968 he joined the United States Army and was sent to Vietnam. O'Brien served three years, from '69 to '70. He served at an division which was involved in the 'My Lai Massacre'. This was a mass killing event in 1968, South Vietnam. Between 350-500 unarmed Vietnamese were killed. O'Brien himself wasn't involved in this incident because he wasn't serving yet at the time. He did say that when he got to that area a year later they wondered why the residents were so hostile. They were told about the event when they retuned. When he returned to the US he studied at Harvard University.
The thing they carried is a collection of short stories about experiences in Vietnam. It's still a discussion whether the book is fiction or non-fiction -an autobiography. The protagonist is called Tim, like the author, and Tim has the same biographical background. The book is more likely based on his experiences serving. erisimilitude is the name for it. This is a common writing style but O'Brien's approach to this style is unique. In the short story 'Good Form' he draws a line between the 'story truth' and the 'happening truth'. Sometimes, the 'story truth' is more true that the 'happening truth' because it could potray war better than actually telling the truth. O'Brien claims his book is fiction, though.
According to Tim his book is about 'a man's yearning for peace'. At least, those were his intentions. Tim's yearning for peace was satisfied by constant story telling: 'The things they carried' was originally a short story, but soon grew to be whole collection and was published under the same name.