C.D.B. Bryan, the American author and journalist best known for his 1976 book Friendly Fire, has died at his Connecticut home. He was 73.

Bryan died Tuesday of cancer at home in Guilford, said his wife, Mairi.

Friendly Fire, set during the Vietnam War, was based on the 1970 death in Vietnam of Iowa soldier Michael Eugene Mullen.

Mullen's death transformed his farm family, especially when they learned, after numerous lies by military authorities, that he died from shrapnel fired from the American side — so-called "friendly fire." His mother, Peg Mullen, became an ardent anti-war activist.

The book was made into an Emmy-winning film starring Carol Burnett, Timothy Hutton and Sam Waterston, in 1979.

Bryan, who was born Courtlandt Dixon Barnes Bryan on April 22, 1936, served in the U.S. army in South Korea and again in Berlin in 1961.

A New Yorker, he was educated at Yale and attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

His first novel, P.S. Wilkinson, won the Harper Prize in 1965. His other novels include The Great Dethriffe and Beautiful Women; Ugly Scenes.

Bryan wrote for several magazines, including the satirical magazine The Monocle, The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine and The New York Times Book Review.

Friendly Fire began as an article for The New Yorker and then was serialized in later issues. The transformation of Peg Mullen from staunch patriot to anti-war activist struck a chord with readers during the Vietnam era.

"He was very proud of the fact that he exposed the friendly fire issue, and the fact that the government was lying to people who were as very patriotic as the Mullens were," Mairi Bryan said Friday. "Of all of his works, Friendly Fire was the one of which he was most proud."

Bryan taught writing at Colorado State University and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and was a voluminous book reviewer.

He also wrote the introduction to the 1991 photo book In the Eye of Desert Storm: Photographers of the Gulf War and the narration to the Swedish film The Face of War, as well as non-fiction works about the National Geographic Society and the National Air and Space Museum.

In addition to his wife, survivors include a son, daughter, stepson and stepdaughter.

With files from The Associated Press