I lived through the Vietnam era, the protests, the controversies, and the traumas. Fallen Angels brings the feelings of the actual young men as they face death and the challenges presented to them in combat. Most wars are discussed in the history books in general terms – a company took this hill, or this regiment was assigned to protect a certain territory.

The popularity of the book deals with our efforts to understand and emotionally absorb the idea of war on a human level. Why do you believe Fallen Angels has remained popular 25 years later? They enjoy the adventure of war but increasingly they are from women who have read the book as teenagers and have given copies to their sons or husbands. Most of the letters I receive are from teenaged boys. The mother was writing to thank me for writing a realistic book on combat that changed her son's mind about quitting school and about joining the Army. In the interim, he read every book on war that he could get his hands on. The mother stated that she begged her son to at least finish high school and he said that he would. One heartfelt letter stated that a young man wanted to quit high school to join the military. The first hint that I had that the book had more weight than I expected was the reaction of women who had heard about the book, had read it, and had given it to their sons. Are there any letters relating to Fallen Angels that have stuck with you?

There were so many calls that I got a new, unlisted, number.ģ. I started getting phone calls from veterans throughout the country (usually after the third or fourth drink) offering condolences for the death of my brother, or just wanting to share their stories. When it was first published, I had a listed telephone number. The book took on a life of its own, being passed from hand to hand, and acquiring readers along the way. Some people were put off by the profanity, others to the references to race, and some to the sheer brutality depicted. The initial reactions to the book were mixed. What was the reaction to Fallen Angels when it was first published and has it changed over the years?

In this interview, Myers discusses the impact of this work after 25 years and how his opinions on war have changed.ġ. Hoping to understand the death of his brother, Myers wrote a story about a young soldier and the truth of war. The human element of war can fade as time goes on, a trend Walter Dean Myers chose to counteract in his novel on the Vietnam War, Fallen Angels. See Betty Carter's discussion of themes in Fallen Angels, its sequel Sunrise over Fallujah, and its prequel Invasion here. This Q&A with author Walter Dean Myers appeared on the Zola Books blog on November 7th, 2013, and was shared with the Horn Book by Emma McKinstry of Goodman Media International, Inc.

Fallen angels dean myers