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Tim O'Brien is an American author who is most known for writing on his experience serving in the Vietnam War. He was born in a small town called Austin in Minnesota in 1946. He currently resides in Austin, Texas where he teaches at Texas State University-San Marcos. He earned his Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota and attended Harvard after his tour in Vietnam. He was drafted into the Army and served in the Vietnam war from 1968 to 1970. Other notable titles O'Brien has published include If I Die in a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, Northern Lights, The Nuclear Age, and Going After Cacciato The Things They Carried is a collection of related short stories about the Vietnam war. Although based upon the real-life experiences of author Tim O'Brien's time served in the war, the title page of the novel refers to the book as a "work of fiction". Additionally, a few of the book's characters show similarities to characters from O'Brien's autobiography If I Die in a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home. Quicklets: Learn More. Read Less.