Dog Soldiers
by Robert Stone
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At a glance:
- Author: Robert Stone
- First Published: 1974
- Type of Plot: Social morality
- Time of Work: The early 1970’s, the beginning of the end of the Vietnam War
- Setting: South Vietnam and California
- Characters: John Converse, Ray Hicks, Marge, Dieter, Elmer Bender, Antheil
- Genres: Long fiction, Satire, Novel
- Subjects: 1970's, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Journalism or journalists, California, West, U.S., Vietnam War, Heroin, Drug trafficking or dealing, Indochina
- Locales: California, United States, Asia, South Vietnam, Vietnam, North America
The Novel
In terms of its action, Dog Soldiers may be considered a thriller. Its plot, however, is merely a vehicle for an elaborate superstructure containing a mordant, satiric, despairing meditation on the manner in which the experience of Vietnam invaded the American consciousness.
The plot tells of John Converse, a weak though talented journalist, and his scheme to smuggle three kilos of pure heroin from Vietnam to the United States. He has been sent on assignment to Vietnam by his father-in-law, Elmer Bender, the ruthless publisher of a sensationalist...
(The entire page is 2090 words.)
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