C. D. B. Bryan has written books of fiction and nonfiction but is best known for Friendly Fire (1976), his nonfiction book about a patriotic Iowa family that sours on the Vietnam War and the United States government after their son is killed by gunfire from U.S. troops. Some critics rated Friendly Fire one of the best works of nonfiction published in 1976, and Walter Clemons in Newsweek called it one of the three best books on the Vietnam War. Tom Shales, the television critic for the Washington Post, said of Friendly Fire, "There have been significant books about Vietnam--perhaps none more brilliant and troubling than Bryan's."

Courtlandt Dixon Barnes Bryan was born on 22 April 1936 in New York City, the son of Joseph III and Katharine Barnes Bryan. After his parents divorced his mother married the novelist John O'Hara. Bryan received a bachelor of arts degree from Yale University...