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A big, powerful saga of men in combat, written over the course of thirty-five

years by a highly decorated Vietnam veteran.

Intense, powerful, and compelling, _Matterhorn_ is an epic war novel in the

tradition of Norman Mailer's _The Naked and the Dead_ and James Jones's _The

Thin Red Line_. It is the timeless story of a young Marine lieutenant, Waino

Mellas, and his comrades in Bravo Company, who are dropped into the mountain

jungle of Vietnam as boys and forced to fight their way into manhood. Standing

in their way are not merely the North Vietnamese but also monsoon rain and

mud, leeches and tigers, disease and malnutrition. Almost as daunting, it

turns out, are the obstacles they discover between each other: racial tension,

competing ambitions, and duplicitous superior officers. But when the company

finds itself surrounded and outnumbered by a massive enemy regiment, the

Marines are thrust into the raw and all-consuming terror of combat. The

experience will change them forever.

Written over the course of thirty years by a highly decorated Vietnam veteran,

_Matterhorn_ is a visceral and spellbinding novel about what it is like to be

a young man at war. It is an unforgettable novel that transforms the tragedy

of Vietnam into a powerful and universal story of courage, camaraderie, and

sacrifice: a parable not only of the war in Vietnam but of all war, and a

testament to the redemptive power of literature.

A graduate of Yale University and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, Karl

Marlantes served as a Marine in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Navy Cross,

the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals for valor, two Purple Hearts,

and ten air medals. This is his first novel. He lives in rural Washington

State.