Karl Marlantes’s novel, Matterhorn, inspired by his experiences serving in Vietnam, has won this year’s William E. Colby Award. The $5,000 prize recognizes a debut novel or nonfiction book that has made a significant contribution to the public’s understanding of intelligence operations, military history, or international affairs.
The book took Marlantes over 30 years to complete. He wrote the novel in his spare time, unable to get an agent or publisher to even read the manuscript. “Certainly, writing the novel was a way of dealing with the wounds of combat,” he wrote, “but why would I subject myself to the further wounds all writers receive trying to get published? I think it’s because I’ve wanted to reach out to those people on the other side of the chasm who delivered the wound of misunderstanding. I wanted to be understood.”
The Colby Award cofounder and bestselling author W.E.B. Griffin said, “Matterhorn is a powerful first work that defines the tragic cost of the Vietnam War in human terms. Marlantes’s breakneck writing style is both passionate and haunting, thrusting the reader into alternating moments of chaos and courage reflecting the fragility of our Marines on the ground – and their leadership – in combat.”
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