This “funny, biting, thoughtful, and wholly original” Vietnam War memoir captures the fear, sorrow, and absurdities of combat (Tim O'Brien, author of The Things They Carried).

“A must-read war memoir . . . related by one of the most incisive observers of the American political scene." —Kirkus Reviews

A conversation with a group of today’s military age men and women about America’s involvement in Vietnam inspired Jeff Danziger to write about his own wartime experiences: “War is interesting,” he reveals, “if you can avoid getting killed, and don’t mind loud noises.”

Fans of his cartooning will recognize his mordant humor applied to his own wartime training and combat experiences: “I learned, and I think most veterans learn, that making people or nations do something by bombing or sending in armed troops usually fails.”

Near the end of his telling, Danziger invites his audience—in particular the young friends who inspired him to write this informative and rollicking memoir—to ponder: “What would you do? . . . Could you summon the bravery—or the internal resistance—to simply refuse to be part of the whole idiotic theater of the war? . . . Or would you be like me?”

"Not since Tobias Wolfs' In Pharoah's Army has there been such an honest and self-aware war memoir to come out of the Vietnam conflict. Jeff Danziger's Lieutenant Dangerous belongs on the shelf next to Wolf, Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, and Karl Marlantes' Matterhorn." -- Tom Bodett, Author and radio anomaly

"Most readers will know Jeff Danziger as a brilliant cartoonist. Lieutenant Dangerous shows that he is a brilliant writer as well. Full of mordant observations and absurdist escapades, this memoir of his army service reads like a real-life Catch 22 -- with Danziger as the Captain Yossarian of the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Dangerous joins the small shelf of must-read books for a sense of what it was really like to be a soldier in America's most unpopular war." -- Max Boot, author of The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam

“Lieutenant Dangerous is, the author notes, a "sad story, full of waste and loss." It's powerful. Put it next to Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" on your bookshelf.”
--Laurie Hertzel, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

An "important book . . . at times mordantly funny, at others sparking with anger."
--The Washington Post

"By turns funny, sad, horrifying, and thought-provoking . . . reads like a cross between Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 and the television show M.A.S.H.”
--The Christian Science Monitor

"As with his cartooning, Danziger pulls no punches with his description of his time in the service and Vietnam."
-- The Florida Times-Union

"A must-read war memoir . . . with zero punches pulled, related by one of the most incisive observers of the American political scene."
-- KIRKUS reviews (starred review)

"In clear language he [Danziger] describes both the horrors and absurdities of war and the toll it takes on a soldier.
-- The Rutland Herald

"Brilliant political cartoonist Jeff Danziger has written a crackerjack new book...The book is a rollicking, honest, cynical and, at times, tragic recollection of that dreadful and deceitful war."
-- Valley News

"Danziger's new book isn't merely a recollection of a tumultuous time in his youth; it also passionately engages our political situation now."
-- Seven Days

“Lieutenant Dangerous is a forthright, brutally honest memoir of one American’s experiences during the time of the Vietnam War.”
--The North Star Monthly

“Danziger’s book is a note to the wise. You can forget about the Vietnam War. Certainly, the past cannot be recovered.  But it pays to be on guard not to repeat the same mistakes in the future. Danziger has written a fine book and it is well worth reading.”
--Global Insights

"His book, which careens from political satire to wrenching personal history with a highly palatable dollop of social analysis, is as relevant today as it would have been when the events it describes were taking place."
--Who What Why

"Mr. Danziger be­longs to a gen­er­a­tion that was shaped by the war in Viet­nam and the po­lit­i­cal up­heaval it caused.  He has suc­ceeded in what he set out to do — to nar­rate one young man’s jour­ney through the worst of that mael­strom.  And he has man­aged to set it all down with­out so much as a whiff of un­de­served nos­tal­gia.
--The Barton Chronicle