The Things They Carried
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $25.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Bryan Cranston
-
Written by:
-
Tim O'Brien
About this listen
This modern classic and New York Times best seller was a finalist for both the 1990 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award and has become a staple of American classrooms. Hailed by The New York Times as "a marvel of storytelling", The Things They Carried’s portrayal of the boots-on-the-ground experience of soldiers in the Vietnam War is a landmark in war writing. Now, three-time Emmy Award winner Bryan Cranston, star of the hit TV series Breaking Bad, delivers an electrifying performance that walks the book’s hallucinatory line between reality and fiction and highlights the emotional power of the spoken word.
The soldiers in this collection of stories 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.
This audiobook also includes an exclusive recording “The Vietnam in Me,” a recount of the author’s trip back to Vietnam in 1994, revisiting his experience there as a soldier 25 years before, read by Tim O’Brien himself.
The Things They Carried was produced by Audible Studios in partnership with Playtone, the celebrated film and television production company founded by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, and producer of the award-winning series Band of Brothers, John Adams, and The Pacific, as well as the HBO movie Game Change.
©1990 Tim O'Brien (P)2013 Audible, Inc.You may also enjoy...
-
Matterhorn
- A Novel of the Vietnam War
- Written by: Karl Marlantes
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 21 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: A performance so poignant, we gave Bronson Pinchot (yes, Balki from Perfect Strangers) our inaugural Narrator of the Year award.... In the monsoon season of 1968-69 at a fire support base called Matterhorn, located in the remote mountains of Vietnam, a young and ambitious Marine lieutenant wants to command a company to further his civilian political ambitions. But two people stand in his way.
-
-
amazing story
- By Robert Dawson Link on 2019-03-02
Written by: Karl Marlantes
-
Helmet for My Pillow
- From Parris Island to the Pacific: A Young Marine's Stirring Account of Combat in World War II
- Written by: Robert Leckie
- Narrated by: James Badge Dale, Tom Hanks (introduction)
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The celebrated 2010 HBO miniseries The Pacific, winner of eight Emmy Awards, was based on two classic books about the War in the Pacific, Helmet for My Pillow and With The Old Breed. Audible Studios, in partnership with Playtone, the production company co-owned by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, and creator of the award-winning HBO series Band of Brothers, John Adams, and The Pacific, as well as the HBO movie Game Change, has created new recordings of these memoirs, narrated by the stars of the miniseries.
-
-
Hell in The Pacific: One Man’s Journey
- By Scott William Burrows on 2025-01-08
Written by: Robert Leckie
-
Dispatches
- Written by: Michael Herr
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From its terrifying opening to its final eloquent words, Dispatches makes us see, in unforgettable and unflinching detail, the chaos and fervor of the war and the surreal insanity of life in that singular combat zone. Michael Herr’s unsparing, unorthodox retellings of the day-to-day events in Vietnam take on the force of poetry, rendering clarity from one of the most incomprehensible and nightmarish events of our time.
-
-
Outstanding
- By Objekt Eleven on 2021-11-08
Written by: Michael Herr
-
With the Old Breed
- At Peleliu and Okinawa
- Written by: E. B. Sledge
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Joe Mazzello, Tom Hanks (introduction)
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The celebrated 2010 HBO miniseries The Pacific, winner of eight Emmy Awards, was based on two classic books about the War in the Pacific, Helmet for My Pillow and With The Old Breed. Audible Studios, in partnership with Playtone, the production company co-owned by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, and creator of the award-winning HBO series Band of Brothers, John Adams, and The Pacific, as well as the HBO movie Game Change, has created new recordings of these memoirs, narrated by the stars of the miniseries.
-
-
a must read/listen for ALL civilians
- By David Unger on 2019-03-24
Written by: E. B. Sledge
-
Ortona
- Canada's Epic World War II Battle
- Written by: Mark Zuehlke
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In one furious week of fighting in December 1943, the First Canadian Infantry Division took Ortona, Italy, from elite German paratroopers ordered to hold the medieval port at all costs. When the battle was over, the Canadians emerged victorious despite heavy losses.
-
-
I had no idea...
- By Ryan F on 2019-03-09
Written by: Mark Zuehlke
-
Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
- Written by: Ulysses S. Grant
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 29 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Among the autobiographies of great military figures, Ulysses S. Grant’s is certainly one of the finest, and it is arguably the most notable literary achievement of any American president: a lucid, compelling, and brutally honest chronicle of triumph and failure. From his frontier boyhood, to his heroics in battle, to the grinding poverty from which the Civil War ironically rescued him, these memoirs are a mesmerizing, deeply moving account of a brilliant man told with great courage.
-
-
Grandpa Simpson Narrator
- By Zyn ski on 2018-09-11
Written by: Ulysses S. Grant
-
Matterhorn
- A Novel of the Vietnam War
- Written by: Karl Marlantes
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 21 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: A performance so poignant, we gave Bronson Pinchot (yes, Balki from Perfect Strangers) our inaugural Narrator of the Year award.... In the monsoon season of 1968-69 at a fire support base called Matterhorn, located in the remote mountains of Vietnam, a young and ambitious Marine lieutenant wants to command a company to further his civilian political ambitions. But two people stand in his way.
-
-
amazing story
- By Robert Dawson Link on 2019-03-02
Written by: Karl Marlantes
-
Helmet for My Pillow
- From Parris Island to the Pacific: A Young Marine's Stirring Account of Combat in World War II
- Written by: Robert Leckie
- Narrated by: James Badge Dale, Tom Hanks (introduction)
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The celebrated 2010 HBO miniseries The Pacific, winner of eight Emmy Awards, was based on two classic books about the War in the Pacific, Helmet for My Pillow and With The Old Breed. Audible Studios, in partnership with Playtone, the production company co-owned by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, and creator of the award-winning HBO series Band of Brothers, John Adams, and The Pacific, as well as the HBO movie Game Change, has created new recordings of these memoirs, narrated by the stars of the miniseries.
-
-
Hell in The Pacific: One Man’s Journey
- By Scott William Burrows on 2025-01-08
Written by: Robert Leckie
-
Dispatches
- Written by: Michael Herr
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From its terrifying opening to its final eloquent words, Dispatches makes us see, in unforgettable and unflinching detail, the chaos and fervor of the war and the surreal insanity of life in that singular combat zone. Michael Herr’s unsparing, unorthodox retellings of the day-to-day events in Vietnam take on the force of poetry, rendering clarity from one of the most incomprehensible and nightmarish events of our time.
-
-
Outstanding
- By Objekt Eleven on 2021-11-08
Written by: Michael Herr
-
With the Old Breed
- At Peleliu and Okinawa
- Written by: E. B. Sledge
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Joe Mazzello, Tom Hanks (introduction)
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The celebrated 2010 HBO miniseries The Pacific, winner of eight Emmy Awards, was based on two classic books about the War in the Pacific, Helmet for My Pillow and With The Old Breed. Audible Studios, in partnership with Playtone, the production company co-owned by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, and creator of the award-winning HBO series Band of Brothers, John Adams, and The Pacific, as well as the HBO movie Game Change, has created new recordings of these memoirs, narrated by the stars of the miniseries.
-
-
a must read/listen for ALL civilians
- By David Unger on 2019-03-24
Written by: E. B. Sledge
-
Ortona
- Canada's Epic World War II Battle
- Written by: Mark Zuehlke
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In one furious week of fighting in December 1943, the First Canadian Infantry Division took Ortona, Italy, from elite German paratroopers ordered to hold the medieval port at all costs. When the battle was over, the Canadians emerged victorious despite heavy losses.
-
-
I had no idea...
- By Ryan F on 2019-03-09
Written by: Mark Zuehlke
-
Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
- Written by: Ulysses S. Grant
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 29 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Among the autobiographies of great military figures, Ulysses S. Grant’s is certainly one of the finest, and it is arguably the most notable literary achievement of any American president: a lucid, compelling, and brutally honest chronicle of triumph and failure. From his frontier boyhood, to his heroics in battle, to the grinding poverty from which the Civil War ironically rescued him, these memoirs are a mesmerizing, deeply moving account of a brilliant man told with great courage.
-
-
Grandpa Simpson Narrator
- By Zyn ski on 2018-09-11
Written by: Ulysses S. Grant
-
Things I'll Never Forget
- Memories of a Marine in Viet Nam
- Written by: James M. Dixon
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Things I’ll Never Forget is the story of a young high school graduate in 1965 who faces being drafted into the Army or volunteering for the Marine Corps. These are his memories of funny times, disgusting times and deadly times. The author kept a journal for an entire year; therefore many of the dates, times and places are accurate. The rest is based on memories that are forever tattooed on his brain. This is not a pro-war book, nor is it anti-war. It is the true story of what the Marine Corps was like in the late 1960’s.
-
-
Great read.
- By Nick Smith on 2023-02-02
Written by: James M. Dixon
-
The Forgotten Soldier
- Written by: Guy Sajer
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 21 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Guy Sajer joins the infantry full of ideals in the summer of 1942, the German army is enjoying unparalleled success in Russia. However, he quickly finds that for the foot soldier the glory of military success hides a much harsher reality of hunger, fatigue, and constant deprivation. Posted to the elite Grosse Deutschland division, he enters a violent and remorseless world where all youthful hope is gradually ground down, and all that matters is the brute will to survive.
-
-
I have PTSD after reading this
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-08-11
Written by: Guy Sajer
-
Hawaiian Mythology: The Legends and Myths of Hawaii
- The Fables and Folk-Lore of a Strange People
- Written by: King David Kalakaua
- Narrated by: James Francis Markert
- Length: 20 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dive into the captivating realm of The Legends and Myths of Hawaii, where the mystical allure of the Pacific islands comes alive through the mesmerizing fables and folk-lore shared by none other than the esteemed King David Kalakaua. Prepare to be transported to a time when oral traditions were the heart of Hawaiian culture, as the illustrious monarch weaves a tapestry of enchanting stories that have been cherished for generations.
Written by: King David Kalakaua
-
Bush Runner
- The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson
- Written by: Mark Bourrie
- Narrated by: Jeff Burling
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sourced from Pierre-Esprit Radisson’s journals, which are the best firsthand accounts of 17th-century Canada, Bush Runner tells the extraordinary true story of this protean 17th-century figure, a man more trading partner than colonizer, a peddler of goods and not worldview - and with it offers a fresh perspective on the world in which he lived.
-
-
So disappointed.
- By Mary Louise Colquhoun on 2020-02-08
Written by: Mark Bourrie
-
The Thirty Years War
- Europe's Tragedy
- Written by: Peter H. Wilson
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 33 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Thirty Years War devastated seventeenth-century Europe, killing nearly a quarter of all Germans and laying waste to towns and countryside alike. Peter Wilson offers the first new history in a generation of a horrifying conflict that transformed the map of the modern world.
-
-
An amazing performance for an incomprehensible book
- By F. Toro on 2024-02-28
Written by: Peter H. Wilson
-
The Faithful Executioner
- Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century
- Written by: Joel F. Harrington
- Narrated by: James Gillies
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on the rare and until now overlooked journal of a Renaissance-era executioner, the noted historian Joel F. Harrington's The Faithful Executioner takes us deep inside the alien world and thinking of Meister Frantz Schmidt of Nuremberg, who, during 45 years as a professional executioner, personally put to death 394 individuals and tortured, flogged, or disfigured many hundreds more. But the picture that emerges of Schmidt from his personal papers is not that of a monster. Could a man who routinely practiced such cruelty also be insightful?
-
-
Very interesting and surprisingly touching book
- By Jon on 2018-10-28
Written by: Joel F. Harrington
-
Across the Fence: Expanded Edition
- The Secret War in Vietnam
- Written by: John Stryker Meyer
- Narrated by: John Stryker Meyer
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For eight years, far beyond the battlefields of Vietnam and the glare of media distortions, American Green Berets fought a deadly secret war in Laos and Cambodia under the aegis of the top secret Military Assistance Command Vietnam - Studies and Observations Group, or SOG. Go deep into the jungle with five SOG warriors surrounded by 10,000 enemy troops as they stack up the dead to build a human buttress for protection. Witness a Green Beret, shot in the back four times and left for dead, who survives to fight savagely against incredible odds to complete his missions.
-
-
no author reading
- By Anonymous User on 2023-11-23
Written by: John Stryker Meyer
-
D DAY Through German Eyes
- The Hidden Story of June 6th 1944
- Written by: Holger Eckhertz
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Almost all accounts of D-Day are told from the Allied perspective, with the emphasis on how German resistance was overcome on June 6, 1944. But what was it like to be a German soldier in the bunkers and gun emplacements of the Normandy coast, facing the onslaught of the mightiest seaborne invasion in history? What motivated the German defenders, what were their thought processes - and how did they fight from one strong point to another, among the dunes and fields, on that first cataclysmic day?
-
-
Powerful and Eye Opening
- By Military History Buff on 2019-04-10
Written by: Holger Eckhertz
-
Generation Kill
- Written by: Evan Wright
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were called a generation without heroes. Then they were called upon to be heroes. Within hours of 9/11, America's war on terrorism fell to those like the 23 Marines of the First Recon Battalion, the first generation dispatched into open-ended combat since Vietnam.
-
-
Pulls No Punches
- By JH on 2020-09-23
Written by: Evan Wright
-
The Mad Trapper
- The Incredible Tale of a Famous Canadian Manhunt (Amazing Stories)
- Written by: Helena Katz
- Narrated by: Charles Huddleston
- Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the incredible story of Canada's largest manhunt. Hundreds of men spent seven weeks tracking the elusive Albert Johnson for 240 kilometers across the frozen North. He was eventually caught and killed, but the identity of Albert Johnson, the Mad Trapper of Rat River, remains a mystery to this day.
-
-
Great Story!
- By Anonymous User on 2024-03-02
Written by: Helena Katz
-
Rabbit, Run
- Written by: John Updike
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rabbit, Run is the book that established John Updike as one of the major American novelists of his - or any other - generation. Its hero is Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, a onetime high-school basketball star who on an impulse deserts his wife and son. He is 26 years old, a man-child caught in a struggle between instinct and thought, self and society, sexual gratification and family duty - even, in a sense, human hard-heartedness, and divine Grace. Though his flight from home traces a zigzag of evasion, he holds to the faith that he is on the right path.
-
-
Terrible narration
- By James White on 2023-01-04
Written by: John Updike
-
The Education of Corporal John Musgrave
- Vietnam and Its Aftermath
- Written by: John Musgrave
- Narrated by: John Musgrave
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Musgrave writes honestly about his struggle to balance his deep love for the Marine Corps against his responsibility as a citizen to protect the very troops asked to protect America at all costs. Fiercely perceptive and candid, The Education of Corporal John Musgrave is one of the most powerful memoirs to emerge from the war.
-
-
Amazing Book.
- By Zachary Ouellette on 2023-07-03
Written by: John Musgrave
What the critics say
What listeners say about The Things They Carried
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John Galt
- 2022-04-16
Haunting and Inspiring
First, and most importantly, I am a Canadian, and I’ve not earned the right to know or understand what an American soldier felt in Vietnam, but I was 18 years old in 1972 and, but for the grace of God, this could have been my story. This is the best first hand account I’ve ever read, and as a confused teenager during this era, I’ve read many accounts.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Louise
- 2018-10-27
Raw and compelling
The story really provides insight into a place and time. It is raw and I appreciated the author putting everything out there.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Phil Canning
- 2018-08-27
Captivatingly sensational
entering the intimate impact of Vietnam on a human soul. Walk, see hear and feel closely the confusion and anguish of a soul in pain
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ken l.
- 2020-01-21
Chilling, Remorseful Story
Every word from Brian Cranston's mouth transports you back to the time of national identity crisis, a pointless war, and the regret it leaves behind. This book will leave you in silent reflection and hopefully a deeper understanding of what the men and women went through during that time.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- tox
- 2018-04-19
Humping more then gear
I did enjoy this book, it's a retelling of how soldiers go off and soldiers come back and while the war can end the social baggage never disappears and how it is a eternal and all too heavy stigma that a soldier is a soldier from birth till death and that they shall always carry with them the weight of the world that is laid upon them
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Patrick B.
- 2018-01-22
my best Audible experience so far!
This book makes you understand that war is everything but romantic. this is really well writen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Here
- 2018-09-18
Seat gripper
Some Of the stories will have you gripping your
Seat. I love that you can read the chapters(stories ) in any particular order you would like. #audible1
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- K. V. Horst
- 2019-12-22
poetic, poignant, and profound
a great listen. unvarnished in its truth telling. deglorifies war and relays its horror with a simple and sobering vulnerability. thanks Tim O'Brien for writing, availing your work, and reading the postscript.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Happy Camper
- 2019-10-26
An excellent read/listen. Thanks Brian
Mr Cranston is so engaging. He is Tim. Also hearing Tim's own words was amazing especially his stories and truth about the American massacre. Thank you so much for writing and speaking to me. 'A coward'. Says it all about fighting in the war. I am truly moved by this book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- T. Shayna
- 2020-05-12
Not for me
I didn't care for the plot. Bryan Cranston did a good job reading it though
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!