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The Roundtable

Battenkill Books will host Robert Brigham for his new memoir 'This Is a True War Story' on 4/9

By Joe Donahue
Published April 6, 2026 at 10:30 AM EDT
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Historian Robert Brigham has spent a career studying the Vietnam War, shaping how Americans understand one of the nation’s most complex conflicts. A professor at Vassar College and a leading voice on U.S. foreign policy, Brigham now turns inward with his new book, 'This Is a True War Story: My Improbable History with Vietnam.'

The memoir blends scholarship with deeply personal discovery, tracing his journey as an adoptee who learns that his biological father was a renowned Marine combat photographer in Vietnam. As Brigham reconstructs both a family history and a national one, the book explores memory, identity, and the enduring legacy of war - on the battlefield and across generations at home.

We will have this conversation and then we will talk again at Battenkill Books in Cambridge, NY on Thursday night at 6PM.

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Joe Donahue
Joe talks to people on the radio for a living. In addition to countless impressive human "gets" - he has talked to a lot of Muppets. Joe grew up in Philadelphia, has been on the area airwaves for more than 25 years and currently lives in Washington County, NY with his wife, Kelly, and their dog, Brady. And yes, he reads every single book.
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