The Father of All Things
WAR! Huh. Good God!. What is it good for?
I'll tell you what it is good for. More techno goodie gadgets were made from war than anything else. That Hummer you drive to the all-organic grocery store by yourself to purchase a $300 packet of crisps? Made for war. The Kevlar vest you wear while rollin' through the hood with your peeps in the six-four Impala? Made for war. The laser-guided smart missile you can launch from any moving platform and hit a target the size of your palm? Okay. There is no real practical application for that. Unless you are clearing traffic on the inner loop of the Beltway... That might be nice to have on your Hummer. Mmmm...?
Some of you might be thinking that war causes other things. It does. It exposes mildly innocent people to a level of violence and destruction that most of us will never comprehend. That level of destruction leaves a mark on anyone who is forced to deal with it. Some people deal with it better than others, but it is still there. Unless you are Patton, war is not a nice place to live.
The reason I am talking about war? Oddly enough one more thing comes out of wars. Books. Loads of people deal with their feelings about war by writing about them. After they write about those feelings, if they did a very good job, a nice publisher thinks it would be good idea to let other people know about those feelings and they publish the book that was written. If it was REALLY good, then the publisher sends you (the author) out on a tour of bookstores to talk about your book. (See where I got to the point eventually?)
The Book? The Father of All Things by Tom Bissell. A very good twist on the stories of Vietnam. He returns to the country where his father was stationed to, if not expunge then to explore, the feelings born there among the trees, rain, bullets, and bodies. The books is split into three sections. The first outlining the final evacuation in the late 70's from first-hand accounts. The second is a sort of travelogue covering father and son return to Asia. The third is more accounts from people who experienced the war but this time it is from children. Children who had to grow up in the shadow of what some angry men thought would be a good idea 20 years earlier and couldn't figure out how to stop it.
Most of all this book is about a relationship between a father and a son. Figuring out that your dad wasn't always your dad, that he had a life before you were around filled with Highs, Lows and like every Gilbert and Sullivan play, Duty. March 20th, please join Tom Bissell in our Courthouse store at 7pm. For added enjoyment, bring your father and a box of tissues. If your father is living in upstate New York or anywhere else outside of the DC area, come get a book dedicated to him and keep it in your back pocket for Father's Day.
Tom Bissell is the same age as me and I am slightly jealous that he A) Has a published book, B) Has been to Asia, and C) Has fired an AK-47.
The closest I have to the book is a manuscript about London that still needs work. I once stood on the point in Istanbul and looked at Asia. (You can see it if the air is clear.) As for the shooting? I once fired an M-60 at a National Guard arms show in Pocatello. I went with my father. I also got into trouble for getting into the cockpit of an Apache Helicopter that day and rode around in a real Hummer. Later we had beers and sandwiches. Good times with my Pops.
I'll tell you what it is good for. More techno goodie gadgets were made from war than anything else. That Hummer you drive to the all-organic grocery store by yourself to purchase a $300 packet of crisps? Made for war. The Kevlar vest you wear while rollin' through the hood with your peeps in the six-four Impala? Made for war. The laser-guided smart missile you can launch from any moving platform and hit a target the size of your palm? Okay. There is no real practical application for that. Unless you are clearing traffic on the inner loop of the Beltway... That might be nice to have on your Hummer. Mmmm...?
Some of you might be thinking that war causes other things. It does. It exposes mildly innocent people to a level of violence and destruction that most of us will never comprehend. That level of destruction leaves a mark on anyone who is forced to deal with it. Some people deal with it better than others, but it is still there. Unless you are Patton, war is not a nice place to live.
The reason I am talking about war? Oddly enough one more thing comes out of wars. Books. Loads of people deal with their feelings about war by writing about them. After they write about those feelings, if they did a very good job, a nice publisher thinks it would be good idea to let other people know about those feelings and they publish the book that was written. If it was REALLY good, then the publisher sends you (the author) out on a tour of bookstores to talk about your book. (See where I got to the point eventually?)
The Book? The Father of All Things by Tom Bissell. A very good twist on the stories of Vietnam. He returns to the country where his father was stationed to, if not expunge then to explore, the feelings born there among the trees, rain, bullets, and bodies. The books is split into three sections. The first outlining the final evacuation in the late 70's from first-hand accounts. The second is a sort of travelogue covering father and son return to Asia. The third is more accounts from people who experienced the war but this time it is from children. Children who had to grow up in the shadow of what some angry men thought would be a good idea 20 years earlier and couldn't figure out how to stop it. Most of all this book is about a relationship between a father and a son. Figuring out that your dad wasn't always your dad, that he had a life before you were around filled with Highs, Lows and like every Gilbert and Sullivan play, Duty. March 20th, please join Tom Bissell in our Courthouse store at 7pm. For added enjoyment, bring your father and a box of tissues. If your father is living in upstate New York or anywhere else outside of the DC area, come get a book dedicated to him and keep it in your back pocket for Father's Day.
Tom Bissell is the same age as me and I am slightly jealous that he A) Has a published book, B) Has been to Asia, and C) Has fired an AK-47.
The closest I have to the book is a manuscript about London that still needs work. I once stood on the point in Istanbul and looked at Asia. (You can see it if the air is clear.) As for the shooting? I once fired an M-60 at a National Guard arms show in Pocatello. I went with my father. I also got into trouble for getting into the cockpit of an Apache Helicopter that day and rode around in a real Hummer. Later we had beers and sandwiches. Good times with my Pops.
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