List $24.99

Written by Tim O'Brien - Audio book performed by Tom Stechschulte - Unabridged Fiction - 6 COMPACT DISCS - 7.25 hours

Publisher, Recorded Books (November 2003)

This modem classic, a New York Times best-seller, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, has been called the greatest war book ever written. Walking the hallucinatory line between reality and fiction, author "lim O'Brien captures the complex dynamics of the Vietnam War.

They carried M-16 rifles, M-60 machine guns, and M-79 grenade launchers. They carried plastic explosives, hand grenades, flak jackets, and landmines. But they also carried letters from home, illustrated Bibles, and pictures of their loved ones. Some of them carried extra food or comic books or drugs. Every man carried what he needed to survive—and those who did carried their shattering stories away from the jungle and back to a nation that would never understand.

Hailed by Tile New York limes as "a marvel of storytelling," The Things They Carried is a landmark in war fiction and a breathtaking example of the power of the written word.

About the Author: Tim O'Brien won the National Bonk Award in 1979 for his masterful I Going After GICallf0. Another of his best-sellers, In the Lake of the Woods, claimed the James Fenimore Cooper Prize from the Society of American I Iistorians and was chosen best novel of 1994 by Time magazine.

About the Performer: Actor and narrator Tom Stechschulte hones his storytelling skills at home when he reads aloud to his four-year-old son. “Children don’t like being talked down to,” he explains, “I want to be as truthful with the piece as possible.” His natural, expressive style lends itself to the biographies, mysteries, suspense, drama, and children’s stories he has narrated for Recorded Books. Compelling performances of James Redfield’s The Celestine Prophecy, Pat Conroy’s The Water is Wide, and S.E. Hinton’s children’s tale, Rumble Fish showcase his command of various genres.

He didn’t plan to be an actor. On his way to starting a travel agency, he was offered a part in a college production of Oliver. “I got the bug,” he confesses. With credits now in 11 television shows and five films, his face has become familiar. He has appeared on regional and larger stages in numerous plays, including Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and a stage adaptation of Steinbeck’s East of Eden.

As a narrator, Stechschulte says, “Each book is a learning process.” He reads the book, then rereads sections just before the recording sessions. He savors dialogue and feels that bringing long descriptive passages to life is both challenging and rewarding. Developing the southern voices for the characters in T.R. Pearson’s Cry Me A River, for example, became one of his most memorable narrating experiences.

You’ll find that listening to Tom Stechschulte is always a wonderful experience. Look for his performances of humorous works like Soap! Soap! Don’t Forget the Soap!, gritty suspense like Under the Lake, and the lyrical National Book Award-winner Farewell, I’m Bound to Leave You.