<Tr> <Th> Pages </Th> <Td> 233 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> ISBN </Th> <Td> 0767902890 </Td> </Tr> <P> The Things They Carried (1990) is a collection of linked short stories by American novelist Tim O'Brien, about a platoon of American soldiers fighting on the ground in the Vietnam War . His third book about the war, it is based upon his experiences as a soldier in the 23rd Infantry Division . </P> <P> O'Brien generally refrains from political debate and discourse regarding the Vietnam War . He was dismayed that people in his home town seemed to have so little understanding of the war and its world . It was in part a response to what he considered ignorance that he wrote The Things They Carried . It was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1990 . </P>

When does the things they carried take place