Both Austin Bay and Clive Davis recently cited this famous essay by literary critic Paul Fussell in their posts on the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb. I had read Fussell’s 1988 essay, provocatively titled “God Bless … Continue reading →
A few days from now will be the sixtieth anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The rightness of that decision is still being vigorously debated. Here’s an article from the Weekly Standard (hat tip: Austin Bay) … Continue reading →
Why is Jane Fonda still hated? And why am I bringing this old subject up now? Well, it’s connected with the process of thinking about my “A mind is a difficult thing…” series once again. It’s also connected to a … Continue reading →
“Coming Home”–it was the title of a 1978 movie about returning Vietnam vets, starring (of all people, adding insult to injury) Jane Fonda. I saw it and don’t remember it very well, but I thought of it when I heard … Continue reading →
In our continuing dialogue and speculation about attitudes of liberals towards the military, Austin Bay asks me to comment on the following story (scroll down to the bottom of his post to find it): [Neo-neocon’s] comments about courage remind me … Continue reading →
I recently came across this essay by Lee Sandlin, entitled “Losing the War.” It was recommended to me by the inimitable Gerard Van Der Leun, who is certainly no slouch in the essay department himself. Sandlin’s article is well-written and … Continue reading →
(NOTE: Links to previous posts in the series can be found on the right sidebar, under “A mind is a difficult thing to change.”) When I try to think of the psychological/political effects of Vietnam, two things come to mind … Continue reading →
Vietnam’s been on my mind recently, for obvious reasons. I’ve been thinking and writing so much about it lately that I’ve only just gotten around to reading this article by Stephen J. Morris, which appeared in the Op-Ed page of … Continue reading →
I think my favorite quotation about war is one attributed to Trotsky: You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you. It sums up the idea that you can run, but you can’t hide–sooner or later, … Continue reading →
In the course of writing my most recent Vietnam post, I found myself rereading the transcript of the 1971 Dick Cavett Show debate between John Kerry and John O’Neill. I couldn’t help noticing that Kerry does something quite familiar during … Continue reading →
(For earlier pieces in the series, see the right sidebar under “A mind is a difficult thing to change.”) Introduction No, this isn’t the long-promised Part 4C, the post in the “A mind is a difficult thing to change” series … Continue reading →
Since we’ve been talking so much recently about Vietnam, this article, entitled “Why Go Now,” in the travel section of Sunday’s NY Times, caught my eye. (By the way, the title of my piece, for those of you too young … Continue reading →