MAKING SENSE OF ONE WAR
Thursday / Friday, February 26 & 27 from 1:00-2:30pm
We might agree that war either makes little sense or absolutely no sense at all. To dig into one war, FiftyNorth offers one class over back-to-back days, Thursday and Friday, February 26 & 27, an hour and a half each day.
Paul Kluge, the award-winning author of the trilogy he calls Vietnam Re-Visits will be at the lectern. His first historical novel is Weeds of War which awakens us to the French-Indochina War when Vietnam was yet a discontented colony. Irish Weeds, the second of the trilogy speaks of the 1950s world, particularly Northern Ireland and the coming Troubles there. Essentially, The Troubles was a thirty-year war against colonization. The Tilted Palace, published recently, is the one novel that speaks to the reasoning and the emotional cost of war, particularly the Vietnam War. Much of the information Paul offers comes from these writings. Our two classes can’t make all things better, but we can address and even confront reasoning of the time, misconceptions, myths, and the perceived reality coming from this one war. For more than a decade our government’s engagement in Vietnam caused mayhem and bloodshed in the jungles of Indochina as well as the streets of America. “Why can’t we all just get along,” as Rodney King, the victim of police brutality in Los Angles asked in 1991?
Our class will take a quick peek at prehistoric Indochina, then place a bold stare on the American presidents of three decades. After that, a dig into North Vietnam leadership as well as their sponsors, the Soviet Union and Red China. Finally, we will look at the consequences of this war, a conflict in a country with which we now trade freely, and where Americans enthusiastically travel as safe and satisfied tourists. Was the war, the sacrifice, the cost and the mayhem all for naught? We will dig deeply and just maybe reveal a ray of light.
(2 sessions) Opern to the public, all are welcome
Presenter: Paul Kluge
Cost: $30 nonmember of FiftyNorth, $24 member of FiftyNorth, $0 platinum
Room 103: at FiftyNorth
Call FiftyNorth with any questions: (507) 664-3700
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