Louise Esola is an award-winning writer and journalist. Her first book, American Boys, tells the story of a Vietnam War disaster framed by the war itself—a fog-of-war narrative that is both heartbreaking and spellbinding. A work of narrative nonfiction that reads like a novel, the book draws on intimate detail to honor those who served and those who lost loved ones in America’s most unpopular war.

Kirkus Reviews called American Boys “history at its best,” awarding it a Kirkus Star and naming it among the Best Books of 2014. The book also received numerous honors, including the Writer’s Digest Grand Prize in the 2015 Self-Published Book Awards; a Silver Medal in U.S. History from the 2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards; the National Indie Excellence Award in Military Nonfiction; and Silver in War & Military from Foreword Reviews’ 2014 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards.

American Boys has been featured in more than two dozen major publications. Library Journal praised the book for “clearly benefit[ing] from a journalist’s research skills, eye for detail, and storytelling experience,” while Writer’s Digestlater hailed it as “righting a wrong,” noting that the book helped correct the historical record and contributed to the effort to add 74 names to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Esola has since completed two novels and is seeking literary representation. She lives in New Orleans with her husband and children.