For the Young, a Vietnam War History

American combat troops had already left Vietnam by the time Joseph Anzenberger Jr. entered the Marine Corps right out of high school in 1974, but the Rancho Santa Margarita resident is now hip deep in the quagmire of the Vietnam War.

Figuratively speaking, that is.

Anzenberger signed a contract with Facts on File in January to write a history of the war. Due to be published in 1990, Anzenberger’s tentatively titled “The Vietnam War” will be part of the New York publisher’s Library in a Book series.

“The whole idea is really aimed at high school and college students who are researching the war or want to learn more about it,” said Anzenberger, 34, a systems analyst for Northrop Corp. in Pico Rivera, who writes in his spare time.

The book will be broken into two sections--the first a concise overview of the Vietnam War, from 1945 to 1975, the second an annotated reference section that will direct researchers to further information about the war.

“Most people would go to libraries or dig up the periodicals,” Anzenberger said. “I list all the other organizations where they can find information about the war, the lesser-known research places. There is, for example, a theses center in Ann Arbor, Mich.--University Microfilm International--which is a clearinghouse for masters’ and doctoral theses throughout the country. It has a big collection on the Vietnam War. All the organizations that were in Vietnam, such as the Red Cross and USO, also have official histories.”

Anzenberger’s current project, for which he received a $4,000 advance, is actually his second book dealing with the Vietnam War.

The first, published in 1986, is “Combat Art of the Vietnam War” (McFarland), a collection of drawings and paintings done during the war with accompanying text that relates several of the combat artists’ stories.

Anzenberger got the idea for the book in the early ‘80s while majoring in literature at Pace University in Pleasantville, N.Y. He read James Jones’ “WW II” (a nonfiction book in which the novelist provided a soldier’s-eye view of World War II accompanied by combat art), and checked to see if a similar book had been done on the Vietnam War. He found that no such book had been done.

“For the most part, a lot of people viewed the Vietnam War through photographs and this artwork was a way of looking at a different aspect,” he said. “An artist has more time to think the picture out and can take a little more license with the scene” than a combat photographer.

In beginning his research, Anzenberger discovered that the different branches of the military had collected 10,000 pieces of art rendered during the Vietnam War. About 95% of the artwork had been officially commissioned by the military, he said, while “the other 5% was done by standard military people who donated their work” during and after the war.

In doing the combat art book, he also wanted to learn more about a war to which he had not paid much attention while growing up. “It was a learning experience for myself,” he said.

His upcoming book, he said, is aimed at the college and high school students of today “whose parents may have fought in the war but who may be turned off by some of the more in-depth books that are out about the Vietnam War. This book is meant to bring it down to a more readable level.”

In selling his idea for a Vietnam history book to Facts On File in January, Anzenberger did the same thing he did with the first book: He wrote a detailed outline, with sample writing.

“I haven’t used an agent on either” book, he said, adding that he is learning all the “ins and outs” of the publishing world on his own. “My first contract was three pages long. The Facts on File contract is 15 pages, so I kind of learned to get through that.”

Anzenberger, who began doing research for the new book last August, must deliver his completed manuscript next January.

He spends an average of six or seven hours a week writing at night after his two children are in bed and spends three or four hours on Saturdays doing research at the UC Irvine library which, he said, has “a tremendous amount of information” on Southeast Asia and the Vietnam War.

For someone holding down a full-time job, Anzenberger said, writing a book “is a matter of time management, really.”

“As far as finding time, one of the tricks I have is I bought a laptop computer,” he said. “It saves a lot of time. I just take it directly to the library with me,” thus eliminating taking notes by hand and then having to transfer the notes to a computer.

He said he also sets “milestones” for himself.

“The first thing I did was develop a database of the war--all the dates between 1945 and 1975--anything I thought was substantial or significant. I’m using that as a checklist and guide to see how much further I’ve got to go and what I’ve covered. I’ve broken it up into various eras and set myself dates of when I should really be at what point, so I’ll finish this on time.”

“I think the hardest thing is staying motivated,” he added. “It’s so easy to say, ‘I’ll do it tomorrow.’ ”

A former reporter for a weekly newspaper in Haverstraw, N.Y., and a stringer for Gannett Newspapers, Anzenberger has also worked as a technical writer. And he has tried his hand at fiction: He submitted a script he wrote on speculation for television’s “Tour of Duty” (“it didn’t go anywhere”) and has written a children’s book which, he says, “has been rejected 10 times.”

Despite his nonfiction background, he sees fiction as something he would like to eventually focus on.

“At this point, I guess I just don’t have the confidence factor to approach fiction,” he said. “I’d feel more confident having a few nonfiction books under my belt. I personally need to feel the confidence that I can be published, which I’m gaining through the nonfiction.”

Round Table: Maureen Reagan (“First Father, First Daughter”), Grace Kelly biographer Judith Quine (“The Bridesmaids”) and Phyllis Quinn (“Star Mothers”) will speak at the Round Table West book and author luncheon at noon Thursday at the Balboa Bay Club, 1221 W. Pacific Coast Highway, Newport Beach. Tickets are $25. For reservations, call (714) 548-1447.

Mystery Talk: Mission Viejo mystery writer Maxine O’Callaghan, whose latest Orange County-based Delilah West mystery is “Hit and Run,” will talk about mystery writing at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Laguna Beach Public Library, 363 Glenneyre St. Free admission.