Webb responds to the attack on his novels
Extended quotes over at Kos along with video
“Let’s start with Fields of Fire. It’s a classic novel of the Vietnam War. It’s been on the Commadante of the Marine Corps reading list for twenty years. It was the most taught piece of American literature in college courses regarding the Vietman War for many years.”
If George Allen was the standard for judging literature:
We’d know that Vonnegut is for firebombing a city
We’d know that Atwood was advocating a theocracy–who knows, maybe Allen is a fan of hers
We’d know that Scott Turow advocates wives killing their husband’s lovers
We’d know that Shakespeare is for suicide and a whole lot more
We’d know that Orwell was a fan of fascism
We’d know that Huxley was a fan of conformity
We’d know that Harper Lee was a fan of racism
We’d know that Kafka and Heller loved bureaucracy
We’d know Steinbeck was a fan of poverty
We’d know Ralph Ellison was a fan of white supremacy
We’d know Paton was pro-Apartheid
We’d know Warren really though Huey Long was a perfect individual
We’d know Stowe was an advocate for slavery
We’d know that Wright thought social inequality and racism weren’t big deals–and he advocated rape and murder
We’d know Voltaire really thinks all is for the best
But, alas, we don’t know these things. We do know that George Allen is an anti-intellectual fucktwit as are those who try and sell that story.
What do you think of the following ad?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsy0E0RRTPA
The Republican compares the Democrat she faces in the Alexandria, Louisiana, mayoral runoff to
her rapist. Some people will say anything to get elected.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsy0E0RRTPA
Worst campaign commerical yet to hit the airwaves. The Republican running for
mayor of Alexandria, Louisiana, compares the Democrat she faces in the runoff to her rapist.
Some people will say anything to get elected.
When I first read “Fields of Fire,” I relieved my whole tour as a marine rifleman in Viet Nam, 1968-69. Since then I’ve read much about the Viet Nam war, mostly memoir or fiction by Vietnam vets.
I’ve published a collection of war poetry, On The Way to Khe Sanh, (three of which appeared in The Iowa Review, Spring 2005), and a memoir, Nam Au Go Go – Falling for the Vietnamese Goddess of War.
I want to pass on a heads up about Nam Au Go Go – Falling for the Vietnamese Goddess of War, which is available on the web.
My book is different. It talks about something no one I can find has written about – what violence does to war fighters. How, if combat soldiers and marines see too much, do too much, they can cross a threshold into an adaptation to violence and become addicted to it. When your emotional self is killed off by the insanity of war, survivors of this addiction have a hard time re-connecting with society. Combat is a one-way door. Once you go through, you cannot go back. You are changed.
Find Nam Au Go Go on booksellers’ websites.
e: jacolesdad@comcast.net