Copyright © 1996 by James Carroll
All rights reserved
For information about permission to reproduce selections
from this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company,
215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Carroll, James, date.
An American requiem : God, my father, and the war that came
between us / James Carroll,
p. cm.
ISBN 0-395-77926-x
ISBN 0-395-85993-x (pbk.)
1. Carroll, James, 1943– —Family. 2. Novelists—20th cen-
tury—Family relationships. 3. Ex-priests, Catholic—United States—
Family relationships. 4. Vietnamese Conflict, 1961–1975—Protest
movements—United States. 5. Fathers and sons—United States—
Biography. 6. Catholics—United States—Biography. I. Title.
PS3553.A764Z464 1996 95-52125 CIP
813'.54—dc20
Printed in the United States of America
Book design by Robert Overholtzer
QUM 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
The author is grateful for permission to quote from the following:
Lines from "Vapor Trail Reflected in the Frog Pond," from Body Rags by
Galway Kinnell. Copyright © 1965, 1966, 1967 by Galway Kinnell. Reprinted
by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Lines from "Vietnamese," from Growing into Love by X. J. Kennedy. Reprinted
by permission of Curtis Brown Ltd. Copyright © 1969 by X. J. Kennedy.
Lines from "Death of Little Boys" from Poems: 1922–1947 by Allen Tate.
Copyright 1931, 1932, 1937, 1948 Charles Scribner's Sons;
renewed copyright © 1959, 1960 Allen Tate.