Tammy's Thoughts on the David Maraniss Lecture

I don't really want to give a book review of his presentation so if you really want to know what it was about here's a link to a review. I found quiet a few online but this one may take some time to load.

I think I found more links than I have words:
http://www.jsonline.com/enter/books/sep03/172124.asp This one is an article on both the book and Mr. Maraniss.

Okay enough of the links and stuff. Here's what I thought of the whole presentation:

I was really impressed by the list of books he had written and taken back when it was said that he wrote Clinton's biography. I never thought I would see that man's face in public because of all the stuff that has happened.

Through out the whole of his lecture he kept saying "The more things change the more things stay the same." Yeah this may sound redundent but it holds true with what he said through out the presentation.

He kept saying that it was hard to get people to remember what was going on at the time but they all knew exactly where they were or what they were doing at the time. Especially those that were on campus Wisconsin and those on the battle field.

He spoke of the dorms at the time and said that he wasn't sure about how Seton Hill's were now. He said that they were in separate buildings (at least that's what I got from it) and there was a curfue for both men and woman. That sounds really familiar. Other than the whole curfue thing that sounds just like Seton Hill. Except the dorm rooms on Main Campus. This is how the majority of residents are treated. "The more things change the more things stay the same."

I had no idea that there were so few survivors left. I thought people were just saying that to make it more of a special thing. Like the Holocaust. Those that are alive are in their 60s or older... I can't believe it.

One of the points that I found interesting was when he spoke of his trip to 'nam. He brought a surivor and his family. I'm not going to mention any names not because I don't know them but because I'm not sure of the speling. I have trouble spelling everyday words what's gonna happen if I try to spell names I'm not familiar with. Well he said that a couple of hours into an interview with a Vietnam (country) survvior the man that had accompanied him became impatient. After a break they pulled out the map and the interviewee pointed out the battle sight and said (was interpreted) "We were not supposed to be there".

It turned out that their platoon just happened upon the Americans, while they were looking for a nurse station or something so they could get rice or some other food. When they saw the American camp they planned a raid. "Battles are won by pure luck" Maraniss said that one of the "black" men in the American camp had a habit of singing a soul song of the time "Knock on Wood" every morning. It just so happens that the signal for the Vietanmese to attack was when they heard 3 knocks on wood.... Interesting.

There might be a movie in the making! Tom Hanks has the rights to the book. Movie Playton is the production studio (Tom Hanks' very own). David Maraniss thinks that it may not come but if it does he will not be part of the screen play writing. That's a different thing than he's used to and he has no interest in it other that making sure they keep the facts straight for historical integrity.

I think this has been long enough... I have alot more interesting things on my blog about this so please feel free to check it out.