As Ken Burns’s latest documentary – and questions over how rigorously it probes – make clear, Americans still remain fascinated by the Vietnam War. It remains in the cultural lexicon as a warning against military overreach, and the suffering of many of its veterans helped prompt the creation of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in the DSM-III in 1980. “Vietnam” sometimes is used as a shorthand for trauma, although the vast majority of combat soldiers did not develop symptoms. This essay addresses the complexity of the Vietnam War in American literature and culture, and how the memory of the war has influenced subsequent military actions (and inactions) and cultural representations. Authors include O’Brien, Heinemann, Caputo, Marlantes, and Van DeVanter and more.