This Is a True War Story: My Improbable History with Vietnam

by Robert K. Brigham

A personal account by a war historian and adoptee who discovers his biological father was a famous Marine combat photographer in Vietnam.

Robert K. Brigham has had a substantial career as a historian of the Vietnam War, with a hand in nine books, a documentary, public history projects, and more. While many a historian has felt compelled at some point to write about a subject close to them personally, Brigham did not think he was doing that. But, at age 58, Brigham, who had long known he was adopted, discovered that he'd improbably and unknowingly been studying and talking about his real father for decades. That man, Bruce Atwell, was a Marine Corps photographer who took some of that war's most indelible and widely reproduced pictures. Brigham had used those images over and over again in decades' worth of classes and public lectures, never knowing the truth.

Both Brigham and Atwell were products of the American foster care and adoption system, and both were defined professionally by Vietnam. In a story shot through with echoes and shadows, Brigham not only reveals his own history as an adoptee but opens a startlingly fresh vantage on the fragility of American families; the power of social norms and taboos to shape lives; and the forces that inequitably disrupt families, not least of them war. The result is an accessible and moving book that is at once both a powerful personal story and an illuminating social critique.

264 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication April 7, 2026

About the author

Robert K. Brigham, Shirley Ecker Boskey Professor of History and International Relations, joined the Vassar faculty in 1994. He is a specialist on the history of US foreign policy, particularly the Vietnam War. Along with several teaching awards, he has also earned fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for Humanities, the Smith Richardson Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. In addition, Brigham has been Albert Shaw Endowed Lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, Mellon Senior Visiting Scholar at Cambridge University (Clare College), visiting professor of international relations at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University, summer seminar faculty at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and Mary Ball Washington Professor of American History (Fulbright) at University College Dublin. Brigham was a professor on the spring 2014 Semester at Sea voyage where he was recognized with an award for his teaching by the students. He resides in Poughkeepsie New York with his wife. He has one college aged daughter.

Reviews

[David Jonescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am always interested in books around the Vietnam era and this one did not disappoint. Although different than I usually read, it is a journey of self discovery for Robert Brigham as he learns more about his genealogy and his connection to the very thing he spent his life studying. Overall great book!

I received a free advanced copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic. I can’t even begin to describe how much I enjoyed reading Robert K Brigham’s journey of finding both self and learning about his birth families identities. Genealogy is a huge passion of mine and as the daughter of a Vietnam veteran I had personal interest in this story. The pacing of this book was perfect. Even between chapters I found myself thinking and reflecting on this book throughout my day. This such a raw and real story of adoption, self discovery and most importantly family, both blood and those that chose us.



Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. A great experience

[lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC from NetGalley
Review: 5⭐️s

Going in, I wasn’t sure what the balance would be between personal memoir and factual information about the war. While I find the Vietnam War interesting, it isn’t an area I know a great deal about, so I was slightly apprehensive that I might not get everything the author intended from the book.

However, once I started reading, I quickly realised that wouldn’t be an issue.

The structure and pacing of the book taking the reader through Brigham’s life as he gradually learns more about the war made me feel as though I was on that journey alongside him.

The emotional experiences of being adopted and not knowing his birth family were captured so poignantly and beautifully that, even though I couldn’t personally relate, I could easily imagine how it must have felt. His attempts to trace his genealogy, along with his anger at the closed adoption system and its implications for genetic health, were particularly powerful and moving