Product Description

A coming-of-age tale for young adults set in the trenches of the Vietnam War in the late 1960s, this is the story of Perry, a Harlem teenager who volunteers for the service when his dream of attending college falls through. Sent to the front lines, Perry and his platoon come face-to-face with the Vietcong and the real horror of warfare. But violence and death aren't the only hardships. As Perry struggles to find virtue in himself and his comrades, he questions why black troops are given the most dangerous assignments, and why the U.S. is even there at all.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2272 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 336 pages

Amazon.com
A coming of age tale for young adults set in the trenches of the Vietnam War in the late 1960s, Fallen Angels is the story of Perry, a Harlem teenager who volunteers for the service when his dream of attending college falls through. Sent to the front lines, Perry and his platoon come face-to-face with the Vietcong and the real horror of warfare. But violence and death aren't the only hardships. As Perry struggles to find virtue in himself and his comrades, he questions why black troops are given the most dangerous assignments, and why the U.S. is there at all. Fallen Angels won the 1989 Coretta Scott King Award.

The New York Times Book Review
. . . as thought provoking as it is entertaining, touching and, on occasion, humorous.

Card catalog description
Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, just out of his Harlem high school, enlists in the Army in the summer of 1967 and spends a devastating year on active duty in Vietnam.

Customer Reviews

Unfallen
This book is brilliant. While in my local library, being bored as hell like always, I picked it up and started reading it. After reading the first five pages, I couldn't put it down so I ended up borrowing it and paying a late fee for holding onto it for much too long.
Parents:
This book is great. It brings your kids into the real world, informs them about what actually happened, and I'm sure you'll like them reading this over watching T.V. Yes, this book does contain lots of swear words and there are somewhat graphic scenes in it. But honestly, kids will start swearing at around 6 or 7th grade (speaking as a teen I know this)in school and obviously not around you guys. There's nothing you can do about this unless you follow them around school and they'll find out eventually anyways. However, I would not recommend this book to ANYONE below 6th grade.
Kids:
Just read the book. 'nuff said

The awful truth
"Get Down!!!" is the cry that rings through Perry's ears as a napalm bomb bursts near by sending a wave of roaring heat all around him. Fallen Angels is a sensational tale about Richie Perry's time in Southern Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Richie leaves his hometown to join the war because he figures it will be much better than his grim life style in the slums of New York City. When he reaches Nam and begins his patrols he finds that his home back in NYC is wondrous compared to the firefights and ambushes of Nam.
I would recommend Fallen Angels for ages 14-17 and for those who like the Jeff Shaara books. Shaara and Myers use not only the same genre, but the same writing style, only Walter Dean Myers is for a younger group of readers.

Parents of Younger Readers Beware!
Excellent story, but parents of younger kids may want to know that it is realisticly profane. My nine year old son read it AFTER I previewed it for him and had to cross out all of the profanity in it with a black sharpie. Lots of "F" words and various other colorful language was used, as well as some talk of losing virginity.(Had to cross that out too.)
That being said, my son absolutely loved this story. He couldn't put it down. I also enjoyed it. Excellent account of a soldier's journey in Vietnam.