Tim O'Brien

Website Evaluators

Leslie Kennedy Adams – Houston Baptist University, Texas
Ruby Bernstein – not currently teaching, California
Susan Leigh Brooks – Bethel College, Minnesota
Wink Rush - Millington Central High, Tennessee

Website Reviewer and Compiler

Randall J. Heeres, Northern Michigan Christian High School

Site Ratings

1 = Poor     2 = Fair     3 = Good     4 = Excellent

Tim O'Brien on the World Wide Web
http://www.illyria.com/tobsites.html

Featuring plot summaries, a bibliography, critical essays, and teaching guides about O'Brien's works, this site presents a thorough introduction for high school students as well as other audiences.  "Teachers should start with this [O'Brien] site" and will find many resources available.  The biography is accessible, though "the mixture of [scholarly and popular] articles" may be a bit daunting for some students.  "Well organized and updated frequently," this jam-packed site provides much information on O'Brien and his work.
Overall Rating:  4

In the Lake of the Woods
http://www.penguinputnam.com/clubppi/reading/obrien/content.htm

This good site features most notably an interview with the author and fine discussion questions about In the Lake of the Woods.  Teachers will find helpful insights and background here, though the site does not do much with O'Brien's other writings, and In the Lake of the Woods is not likely a novel for high school students.  Thus, students will find less here to engage them, though advanced ones will learn from the interview.  The site is attractive and easy to navigate.
Overall Rating: 3

Tim O'Brien, My Lai and America
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~hbf/

This good site features an essay by Bruce Franklin of Rutgers in which he discusses Vietnam-related literature, with particular attention to Tim O'Brien's work.  Teachers will like the "extensive list of Vietnam veteran writers" as well as the material on O'Brien's treatment of Vietnam guilt and the impact of modern warfare on humanity.  Students may receive less immediate benefit from the site, and the essay section on the My Lai massacre may be too intense for many students or for classroom use.  The site links to songs and poems about the Vietnam War as well. 
Overall Rating: 3

Grover Furr's Vietnam War Page
http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/vietnam.html

Good for learning about the Vietnam War, this site features much material:  essays, maps, war strategies, political analysis, and helpful links.  Teachers interested in researching the war thoroughly will find this site terrific.  Students will need to be advanced, for the site "is a supplement for a college course."  Easy to navigate, the site is especially beneficial for social studies teachers and for background to O'Brien's works.
Overall Rating: 3

Trap Doors and Tunnels
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/10.19.95/obrien-9542.html

This site is an article from San Francisco's METROACTIVE on Tim O'Brien's war experiences, views, and stories, especially In the Lake of the Woods and Going After Cacciato.  Providing "an overview of Tim O'Brien's themes" and summaries of these two works, the site may be useful to teachers "planning a unit on Vietnam literature."  Student resources are fair here, though perhaps the comparisons of O'Brien's works to those of Hemingway may be intriguing for some. 
Overall Rating: 3

Gadfly Interview with Tim O'Brien
http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/Vietnam/timobgadflyinterview0399.html

This fair to good site is a Gadfly magazine interview with O'Brien offering "an insightful look at the writer's mind."  Teachers "will find excerpts of the interview useful" for discussion, especially about O'Brien's war writings.  There are no particular resources here for students.
Overall Rating: 2

Tim O'Brien
http://www.rlc.dcccd.edu/annex/comm/english/mah8420/TimOBrien.htm

Giving " a short overview" of O'Brien's work, this web site may be "a good beginning point."  Teachers may find usefulness in lists of other Vietnam War literature, though one reviewer found the list "a bit subjective."  Students may find the essays too scholarly, and one reviewer noted that the site links to "gay and lesbian literature sites." Overall, the site has "a limited perspective" compared to others.
Overall Rating: 2