Young historian shed light on Vietnam
Keith Nolan was 43 when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He didn't smoke. Not regularly, anyway. He might have a cigarette now and then when he was drinking, but essentially, he was a nonsmoker. The doctors told him the cancer was probably genetic. His father had survived throat cancer and tongue cancer.
Nolan was living in the basement of his father's house when I visited him in January 2008. "The doctors say I have a year left," Nolan told me. The doctors were off by about a month. Nolan died Feb. 19.
I liked Nolan a lot, and I very much admired his work. He was a historian. He wrote nonfiction books about the Vietnam War.
He was, of course, far too young to have served in that war. He was 3 years old when the North Vietnamese overran Hue during the Tet Offensive of 1968. The battle to retake that city was the subject of his first book, which he wrote when he was in high school. It was a remarkable effort for a high school kid. He used after-action reports and interviewed veterans of the battle. Still, that first book was the work of a young man with an agenda. He intended to show that the war was a more noble cause than people thought.
...
Read entire article at St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Nolan was living in the basement of his father's house when I visited him in January 2008. "The doctors say I have a year left," Nolan told me. The doctors were off by about a month. Nolan died Feb. 19.
I liked Nolan a lot, and I very much admired his work. He was a historian. He wrote nonfiction books about the Vietnam War.
He was, of course, far too young to have served in that war. He was 3 years old when the North Vietnamese overran Hue during the Tet Offensive of 1968. The battle to retake that city was the subject of his first book, which he wrote when he was in high school. It was a remarkable effort for a high school kid. He used after-action reports and interviewed veterans of the battle. Still, that first book was the work of a young man with an agenda. He intended to show that the war was a more noble cause than people thought.
...