What Stories are For

kiya@evpl — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:03:00 GMT

"Forty-three years old, and the war occurred half a lifetime ago, and yet the remembering makes it now. And sometimes remembering will lead to a story, which makes it forever. That's what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future. Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story."

-Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried, p.36

War and Our Communities: the 2012 Community Read

The Community Read is a community project where various groups read The Things They Carried, written by Vietnam War veteran Tim O'Brien, and discuss the effects of serving in an active combat zone, how it affects soldiers and their families, and how the community can help ease veterans' reintegration.

The Reader's Guide describes the book:

Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried (1990) is considered one of the finest books about the Vietnam War. Far from a combat story of pride and glory, it is a compassionate tale of the American soldier, brimming with raw honesty and thoughtful reflection.

The book's narrator follows a platoon of infantrymen through the jungles of Vietnam. We see them trudge through the muck of a constant downpour, get hit by sniper fire, pull body parts out of a tree, laugh while they tell their stories to each other, and fall silent when faced with making sense of it all-both in the moment and twenty years later.

The book is available at EVPL. Book discussions are being held at two EVPL locations:

Tuesday, March 6, 6:30 pm at North Park Branch Library
Monday, March 12, 3:30 pm at Oaklyn Branch Library

If you are interested in joining another group and are curious what groups are accepting new members, contact Helen D. Azarian by phone at 812/759-7635 or by email. If you are a veteran looking for a group, contact Greg Wagoner. Join an online discussion at the Community Read's Facebook page, or learn how to start your own online discussion.

Many other events are planned for the month of April.

"The War Within : a Secret White House History, 2006-2008" by Bob Woodward

MediaPhile@evpl — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 23:38:00 GMT

We will soon have a new President making decisions about the war in Iraq. So is this book ancient history? Unfortunately, the answer is no.

I had read all three of Bob Woodward's previous books about the Bush White House, starting with Bush at War in 2002, followed by Plan of Attack in 2004, then State of Denial in 2006. So when the fourth and final volume in the Bush series was published earlier this year, I got on the hold list. The War Within is primarily about the downward slope toward civil war in Iraq and the contentious decision to implement the Surge in the spring of 2007.

A lopsided majority of Americans now think that it was a mistake to go to war in Iraq. But there is still speculation about whether we can get out without duplicating our tragic experiences with Vietnam.

Here Woodward pieces together the deliberations of various top level players in Defense, the military, the State Department, the White House, the Iragi government, and various Iraqi factions concerning the 2007 decision to send additional troops to secure vital regions in Iraq. Most would agree that the Surge has worked; the question becomes once again whether or not our withdrawal will just see Iraq fall back into chaos.

Woodward doesn't give us a failsafe plan for the future -- but at least he acquaints us with how complicated the withdrawal of troops might become. And he gives flesh to some of those who will be involved with the pullout, including current (and possibly future) Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

Books Blog : military, war

What Stories are For

"The War Within : a Secret White House History, 2006-2008" by Bob Woodward