Tim O'Brien: The Final Book on the Vietnam War
Tim O'Brien is one of the most influential living American writers, a National Book Award winner and the author of the groundbreaking book The Things They Carried. Tim joins us along with award winning director and producer Aaron Matthews to discuss Aaron's film, The War and Peace of Tim O’Brien. Aaron spent over a year filming Tim as he battled to write one final book – a legacy for his young family about life and fatherhood – even as Tim and his family remain haunted by the ghosts of the Vietnam War. Tim talks about the intrusion of allowing a film crew delve deeply into his and his family's personal lives. But by doing so, the film captures the day-to-day intrusions of family life on Tim's creative process. The discussion naturally leads to the importance of fatherhood, and Tim’s perception of all wars – past, present and future – given his own experiences as an infantryman in the Vietnam War. “I find it outrageous that we can spend 15 years in Vietnam killing 3 million people, and you can go to a school in America and they know nothing about the Vietnam War.” - Tim O’Brien