This is the story of Skip Sandsspy-in-training, engaged in Psychological Operations against the Vietcongand the disasters that befall him thanks to his famous uncle, a war hero known in intelligence circles simply as the Colonel. This is also the story of the Houston brothers, Bill and James, young men who drift out of the Arizona desert into a war in which the line between disinformation and delusion has blurred away. In its vision of human folly, and its gritty, sympathetic portraits of men and women desperate for an end to their loneliness, whether in sex or death or by the grace of God, this is a story like nothing in our literature.
Tree of Smoke is Denis Johnsons first full-length novel in nine years, and his most gripping, beautiful, and powerful work to date.
Tree of Smoke is the 2007 National Book Award Winner for Fiction.

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Wow, I really enjoyed this book. I was born in the 60s and know little about Vietnam and don't know anyone who served. But reading this book I could definitely see how easily it corrupted everyone. There was one section about the differences between what went up the chain of command as intelligence and how it came back down as policy that was very striking.

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