Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘The Things They Carried’ with Tim O’Brien

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Inspired by his real experiences as a young soldier in the Vietnam War, Tim O’Brien’s widely acclaimed 1990 book “The Things They Carried” is an engrossing collection of stories about the varied experiences of war, from its violent horrors to heart-wrenching moments of friendship, sacrifice, and beauty. O’Brien’s writing is equal parts hallucinatory and concrete, surreal and corporeal, as the novel’s chapters vary in time period and perspective, to fully explore the futility of war, the power of friendship, and the motivating effect of death, shame, morality, isolation, and survival. “Part of the job of the writer is to be an iconoclast,” says O’Brien, and to tell the public the things it may not want to hear.
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Опубликовано:

5 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 69

@evalawler4524 13 дней назад

It's an insult that this book is on any banned book list. Both my father and father-in-law served in Vietnam. After reading this book I was able to talk to them in ways I was not able to them before. Like the author said, books allow you to walk in other people's shoes. People who have never experienced war will glorify it - because they have never experienced the fear, smell, discomfort, agony and pain of war.

@t.r.campbell6585 13 дней назад

The book is not banned. It is available for sale. This is a lie from this network.

@girlfromthebronxbywayofelb7288 10 дней назад

Saying that a book is available for sale means that you completely understand that access is denied for many or most. School libraries create access, even for students who don't have lots of available cash to spend on books. But maybe knowledge should only be available to people with lots of extra money at the end of the month.

@girlfromthebronxbywayofelb7288 9 дней назад

evalawler: Thank you for your family's service. 🗽

@betsy658 13 дней назад

I would have never picked this book up on my own, the synopsis was so different than anything I'd ever read, but it was required reading my freshman year of HS. I ended up falling in love with it, bought my own copy, and still own it. Thank you for writing it, Mr. O'Brien.

@runyon888 13 дней назад

This entire book is almost poetry. Read it twenty times. Every single high school should have several copies in the library.

@deborahrivera6064 13 дней назад

I am reading this. Thank you for this segment. and heartfelt honest interview with this author who speaks truth to the fairy tales we are being sold.. May it help me to better understand my late husband, a US Army Purple Heart Vietnam combat veteran and the demons he never spoke about but broke him and so affected our life together. War affects everyone. What I experienced with him made me more anti-war than anything else. This is visceral.

@alanaltimont9007 13 дней назад

I teach this great book at the university level on a regular basis. You do a fine job communicating its essence and harsh beauty.

@DianeDrake-vw5bn 13 дней назад

Brilliant writer -- incredible, heartbreaking book. As is another of his, GOING AFTER CACCIATO. Passages of that have stayed with me ever since I read it so very many years ago. "Keep your eye on Paris." It was, indeed, good advice. Thank you, Tim O'Brien, and thank you Ali for sharing this.

@barbarajolley6578 13 дней назад

Thank you for "Going After Cacciato" reference; I read it many years ago too:).

@DavidJ222 13 дней назад

Without ever setting foot on a battlefield, Trump said he received a Purple Heart medal at his rally in Ashburn, Virginia, from a retired Lieutenant Colonel and supporter. "That’s my real Purple Heart. I have such confidence in you" the veteran said. “And I said, ‘Man, that’s like big stuff. I always wanted to get the Purple Heart,” Trump said. “This was much easier.” Let that sink in for a moment. The fact that Trump even accepted the veteran's Purple Heart tells you eve-ry-thing you need to know about him. Semper Fi.. 🇺🇸

@DianeDrake-vw5bn 13 дней назад

I remember that moment well, and being utterly nauseated by it.

@DavidJ222 13 дней назад

@@cgallagher2112 No doubt.

@solarnaut 13 дней назад

While my reflex/ "instinct" is to neither seek nor accept help/ gifts/ compliments, I've learned to try to retrain some of that, realizing we humans ARE social animals. Sometimes accepting offers honors the giver. Not that anyone has or would offer me their Purple Heart, BUTT, if they did, wouldn't it be rude to decline it ? Yes, everything magat is sad and disgusting, the cult leader above all. Certainly consideration of that Lt. Colonel's feelings was not in the cards for the sadistic pathological lying narcissist, for whom EVERYTHING is ONLY about him. Still, accepting a gift "from the heart" is not something I would judge others for.

@joseflemire4284 13 дней назад

I had friends lose legs at age of 19 in '69. A cousin who was a Marine on the DMV for 13 months survived I find it absolutely disgusting that he equates himself amongst these men who suffered severe loss of limb, life and well being when returning home

@candycandy5810 13 дней назад

how dare that vet be so vulgar in giving it---

@Marty_Wanlass 13 дней назад

Mr O'Brien is a poet also. Thanks to both men for this discussion. Our local Barnes and Noble, set up a special round table and exhibited "banned books." I had to find the manager, and thank him.

@lisareed5669 13 дней назад

You are a treasure. Thank you for your consistently superior work.

@jasonvahl9770 13 дней назад

Great book. I read it in college and never forgot it. My father and his cousins were drafted....this changed the way I think.

@debwalters7188 13 дней назад

I read this book years ago. It had a huge impact on me. I have reread it. It is one of the best I've ever read.

@dlcs1406 13 дней назад

Why would they ban this book? It's used in college philosophy classes and others

@MileHile 13 дней назад

"Vulgar" language and/or blatant honesty?

@shoshanahalle9259 13 дней назад

The only Vietnam war novel you ever need. Comparable to All's Quiet on the Western Front

@barbarajolley6578 13 дней назад

Yes. I read both...You would think that after being warned by brilliant writers about the dirt, danger, and cruelty of war, humanity would know better....:(.

@californianorma876 13 дней назад

oh wow. I read that last year. I'm catching up on my war reading😢.

@simonthebear 13 дней назад

Great idea for a series and an excellent episode. Thank you Ari. I grew up in the 60’s so this has lots of resonance.

@dlcs1406 13 дней назад

Same here. It was required in junior college philosophy and I had a very difficult time reading it as I kept thinking of all my classmates and friends who had to go through this.

@amyrugala246 13 дней назад

One of my all time favorite books. How dare they take it off the shelves. What is to come of our children that need to learn about history and what empathy is? I am scared of what children will become in the future without these experiences lived through books.

@christinevoge5071 13 дней назад

I’ll be buying the book today!

@wjhrazorsedge76 12 дней назад

I did as well. Just finished reading it, many parts twice!

@terihallenbeck7482 13 дней назад

I cannot read military books or what most movies. I LOVE this book. Incredible author.

@marketads1 13 дней назад

In my HS years it was Johnny Got His Gun. The impact of that story at the time of the Vietnam War made many young students into anti war activists.

@virginiaf.5764 12 дней назад

Yes. I remember reading that book. Intense.

@wjhrazorsedge76 12 дней назад

I had watched Ken Burns Vietnam documentary a few yrs ago with Tim. Thank you for the recommendation & reminder. I went out to the mall bookstore & bought the only copy I saw on hand. I have read many things online the last several years, not books though. It was thoroughly tear jerking & great. It was great prose & empathetic & non stop reading. I spent 9 hrs reading it, this includes re-reading many passages. I plan on putting it in my neighbor's book box after my sister reads it. I'm also a Veteran in KS & hopefully some of my neighbors may wake up. I voted badly in 2016. In 2018 I changed & voted with my heart in 2020. Hopefully, Tim sees this comment & I'm glad to support your writing & love of "Linda" & others.

@carllittle4548 13 дней назад

Such a great segment. Love that book and "The Red Badge of Courage."

@donaldkelly3983 12 дней назад

Why remove a book like The Things They Carried from high schools? The control of historical memory.

@jimhazel1544 13 дней назад

This book was banned? I read this book back 20 years ago. I don't remember particulars but I remember how it made me feel more than anything else. That's Art.

@minnas1960 13 дней назад

Incredible book. Should be required reading.

@johndowner2196 13 дней назад

You'll have to live your life in a cacoon to avoid the reality of life

@MyShyCats 12 дней назад

I can hardly comprehend that this was banded! It’s an incredible moving transformational book.

@californianorma876 13 дней назад

I think he wrote, if I die in a combat zone? I have that on my shelf. Guess it's about time I read it.

@gregvondare 12 дней назад

Ali, you have risen to the heights of literary and political commentary with this episode. Wow. Thanks for spotlighting this essential book and it's amazing author. It is a shame and a miracle that great books come out of wars, especially in the 20th Century, when it seemed that we were always at war somewhere -- and none of them were heroic or good. Although we celebrate WWII as a just and necessary war, remember that it also gave us nuclear weapons and the fear of them that we live with today. Banning books is another symptom of our unravelling Democracy and the increasing, insane, desire for a king in America. Don't let it happen!

@user-ew3it6qd4d 13 дней назад

Fabulous book.

@me-in-MPLS 13 дней назад

Love this book. MN own.

@gerb3664 12 дней назад

Also MN, just put in a hold request from my library system. It is available in several. I recently met a veteran from this war. We have discussed it many times. Currently we are still dealing with it. Recently we buried my son's FIL, a veteran. The war really never left him.

@patricknoonan3610 12 дней назад

I loved that book in college. Learned a lot from it.

@vvevv88 13 дней назад

How is this a banned book??? I attended right-wing Christian schools growing up and any one of my teachers would have been proud of a student who showed interest in something like this - and that was during the Bush years!

@pmccord9 13 дней назад

Book banners are toxic idiots. TTTC should be required reading for every American, a prerequisite for aspiring citizens.

@catherinereynolds9644 9 дней назад

An iconic book that still effects me after thirty years. Every young student should read it.

@johnlatimer72 13 дней назад

Whoever banned this book should have to serve at the tip of the spear least he knows not what he has done. To ban this book is to dishonor all those who served and all their relatives. They know the truth about war - killing is a terrible thing - war is nasty business.

@user-nt2hk9ww4y 10 дней назад

I have red this box. It is powerful and sad. Banning books like this is like hiding history's truth!😢😢😢😢

@karenanderson5218 9 дней назад

Wow, so eloquently said.

@vanessacorey200 11 дней назад

This book is on a banned list???? It's a very valuable window into that reality that many of us did not experience and SHOULD try to understand. I bought this book and read it when it came out and I think it should be required reading. That being said, when I am told not to read something or hear that a book is banned, that's all the more reason for me to go read it.

@e.tarnosky9964 11 дней назад

Awesome writer

@DelfinoGarza77 12 дней назад

I believe the bad memories and good memories are locked up in the DNA, and the children express those memories that are locked up in the DNA. we have to stop fighting

@jackshaftoe1715 13 дней назад

I've read this book. It's about the war. What is there to ban ? Maybe at 68 I'm senile and do not under stand anything ? Naaa this is just stupid.

@Couch-yi5sr 13 дней назад

It’s not a banned book.

@arelman 13 дней назад

I don't agree with banning books, but I'm a Vietnam vet and I was embarrassed by this man's book. It's a melodramatic, wordy, mishmash of exaggeration, hallucination, and blatant attempt to write another Apocalypse Now. Obviously, it made a lot of money, but I found scarcely a single phrase that reminded me of the real Nam. He mentioned The Red Badge of Courage. Read that if you want a great war story. As always IMHO, but it's an honest opinion.

@jakes6565 11 дней назад

"Kee-o-wa" is the name of a North American Indian tribe, Oklahoma/Texas region. This announcer never read the book.

@karenjohnson5271 11 дней назад

I read banned books!

@toddrossauthor 9 дней назад

This is not 1933 Germany . . . is it? To ban literature such as this, in The United States of America, today, is shocking, and extremely troubling. People who care need to speak up with loud voices, not just in online echo chambers. My sense is that we are at a crossroads right now, and the choice is between enlightenment (or at least the pursuit of enlightened thinking, education, knowledge), or populism which will lead ultimately to repression for everyone, even those who were gullible enough to vote for it. The German People voted Hitler in, did they not?

@Yunder1 13 дней назад

A REPUBLIC IF YOU CAN KEEP IT. NOT A DEMOCRACY!

@hilariousname6826 12 дней назад

You seem to think those terms negate each other ... ?

@Yunder1 12 дней назад

@@hilariousname6826 democracy is only to make people feel safe. Every country is being overrun with outsiders right now. Give it 20 years and sharia law will become the normal.