The Big Read Comes to Pensacola

  • October 9, 2014
  • /   Reggie Dogan
  • /   government
Flack Logan served on the USS Forrestal and flew combat missions in Vietnam. The retired Navy captain’s memories and images of the war come from the sea and air. But Flack can relate to Tim O’Brien’s award-winning book on Vietnam that captures the physical and psychological weight of war from the ground. Besides the physical toll of toting heavy military gear, combat soldiers carried — O’Brien powerfully conveyed — the grief, sadness and fear that war breeds in the heart, mind and soul. Flack hadn’t read O’Brien’s provocative book, “The Things They Carried,” until he was asked to take part in The Big Read. It took only a few pages for the book to hit home. “The things you carry don’t ever go away,” Logan said. “The mental things stay with you a long time because war changes things.” In what is considered one of the most courageous and captivating books to capture the moral confusion and complexity of the Vietnam War, O’Brien’s book is, as the Chicago Sun-Times says, “as good as any piece of literature can get.” O’Brien comes to Pensacola this week to talk about his award-winning book and share his searing stories of struggle and survival in the paddy fields and jungles of Vietnam. On Friday, O’Brien visits University of West Florida at 1 p.m., and the West Florida Public Library main branch on Gregory Street at 6 p.m. The next day takes him to National Naval Aviation Museum at 10 a.m. All appearances are in celebration of The Big Read in Pensacola. The Minnesota native has never been to the Panhandle, but he said he is eager to see the beautiful beaches and talk about his work. “To get a whole community to discuss, debate and argue about a book is really good,” O’Brien said in a telephone interview from his home in Austin, Texas. “With video games and mass media so dominating, it’s refreshing that a book can get people talking. I’m honored again to be a part of The Big Read.” The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to revitalize the role of reading in communities by exposing people to great works of literature and encouraging them to read for pleasure. Escambia County is one of 77 communities nationwide participating in The Big Read from September 2014 through June 2015. In October and November, Pensacola is celebrating “The Things They Carried” with a calendar of events including book discussions, lectures by noted scholars and film screenings. In the book, O’Brien puts us in the line of fire. With captivating images and precise prose, O’Brien illuminates the physical toll of war and the emotional burden of death and survival through real memories and imagined moments of his war experience. Part fact, part fiction, O’Brien’s collection of war stories draws the conclusion that objectivity and truth are less important than telling a compelling story. What he carries today is mostly memories of Vietnam, the living and the dead, the grief of loss, and the joy of survival. “I carry the memories of the ghosts of Vietnam, the people of Vietnam, my fellow soldiers,” he said. “Sometimes I’m filled with a lot of guilt and also a lot of pride that I survived it.” His goal is not so much to record a history of the Vietnam War, but to explore the ways that writing about war experiences creates or fails to create bonds between a soldier and his world. Through his keen observations and powerful words, O’Brien tells a story of immense power that allow writer and reader to confront the past together and share experiences that are vastly different in some ways and alike in others. “Books are personal things, and you get out a book what you bring to it,” O’Brien said. “I concentrate on trying to tell a story that might appeal to different people.” For Logan and his wife, Kathleen, O’Brien’s story created deep reflections on service and sacrifice. The Logans last month led a discussion of the book at the Five Flags Rotary. No one can read O’Brien’s book and not be affected, Kathleen Logan said. “Every citizen in America should read it,” said Mrs. Logan, who served 6 ½ years in the Navy. “It gets to the heart of what going to war means.” The Logans’ reaction to the book is precisely what The Big Read is about. Melissa Davis, senior librarian at West Florida Public Library, said of the 36 books offered, “The Things They Carried” was chosen because of the way it resonates in a city closely tied to the military. “I hope The Big Read helps bring us together as a community through reading and talking about this book,” Davis said. “It speaks, not just to military veterans, but to anyone who has loved and lost.” Carolyn Appleyard of the Appleyard Agency, one of the groups who helped bring The Big Read to Pensacola, hopes O’Brien’s visit shines a spotlight on the plight of Vietnam veterans. “The Vietnam War affected a lot of people, and many of our homeless people are vets,” Appleyard said. “The book itself can be the basis for conversation that may take place.” O’Brien wrote parts of the classic book 20 years after his service in Vietnam, mostly to appeal to adults. Nearly 45 years since the war, he never imagined the universal appeal his story would hold among high school and college students. “I’m surprised that the book still resonates with young people,” he said. “Ninety-five percent of the letters I get are from young people who have family in war or have been in one. They say they can learn a lot about what their father or brother or husband or boyfriend went through.” If nobody else reads his great work, O’Brien hopes that the politicians and bureaucrats who have the power to start wars will read it. Maybe then, he said, they would think long and hard about sending young people to fight and die in battle. And if war is necessary, at least they will send their children to fight, too, he said. The Logans, who have a son serving in the military, agree. In his closing message to the Five Flags Rotary, Flack Logan said troops were sent to war in Iraq by a Congress of which only 10 percent were veterans and only one of them had a child serving in the military. “My take on this book is like O’Brien’s: We all, including Congress, need to be very careful about committing our young, hard-charging, gung-ho volunteers to war,” Flack Logan said. “If you’re not willing to send your son or daughter to the war, don’t send ours.” [youtube id="JGEDTB-UEcg"] The Big Read Events The Big Read is a National Endowment for the Arts program. It is designed to bring back the joy of reading and literacy to adults in our communities. The West Florida Public Library System received a grant of $15,000 to host the Big Read. It is made possible by library’s strong community partnerships, including The Appleyard Agency, Pensacola Little Theatre, Pensacola Habitat for Humanity, Pensacola State College, the University of West Florida and the continuing support of the Friends of West Florida Public Library.

“The Big Read” in Escambia County – October Event

  • Friday, Oct. 10, 10:30 a.m., Author Tim O'Brien on BlabTV
  • A Conversation with Tim O’Brien O'Brien will talk with students and members of the public about The Things They Carried in an informal question-and-answer setting. Friday, Oct. 10, 1 to 2:30 p.m., University of West Florida, 11000 University Parkway, Building 36, Room 191.
  • The Big Read Community Kickoff O'Brien will discuss The Things They Carried at The Big Read kickoff event. Friday, Oct. 10, 6 to 8 p.m., Main Library, 239 N. Spring St.
  • O'Brien will discuss The Things They Carried at the National Museum of Naval Aviation. Saturday Oct. 11,1 0 a.m. to noon, National Museum of Naval Aviation, 1750 Radford Blvd.
  • Movie Screening - Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam A screening of “Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam,” a feature-length documentary film featuring real-life letters written by American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines during the Vietnam War to their families and friends back home. Archive footage of the war and news coverage highlights the first-person "narrative" by men and women who were in the war, and some of them who did not survive it. Oct. 20, 6 to 7:30 p.m., Tryon Branch Library, 1200 Langley Ave.
  • The Big Read Scholarly Series – The Vietnam War: An Overview Dr. Derek Zumbro, UWF Department of History, will discuss the history of the Vietnam War, from its origins in colonialism to its conclusion and its continuing impact on American society. Oct. 23, 6 to 7 p.m., Tryon Branch Library, 1200 Langley Ave.
  • The Things They Carried  book discussions Oct. 15, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., Main Library, 239 N. Spring St. Oct. 16, 6 to 7 p.m., Century Branch Library, 7991 N. Century Blvd. Oct. 21, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., Pensacola State College, Chadbourne Library, 1000 College Blvd., Building 20. Oct. 27, 6 to 7 p.m., Tryon Branch Library, 1200 Langley Ave. Oct. 29, 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., Tryon Branch Library, 1200 Langley Ave.
 The full schedule for The Big Read in Escambia County is here.
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