No, it's not a very good story - its author was too busy listening to other voices to listen as closely as he should have to the one coming from inside.

That's something that is almost accidental at the beginning of a career, but the more you write, the more trained you are to recognize the little signals.

And as a writer, one of the things that I've always been interested in doing is actually invading your comfort space. Because that's what we're supposed to do. Get under your skin, and make you react.

The place where you made your stand never mattered. Only that you were there... and still on your feet.

And I thought that was the best way for me to participate, because standing in the crowd and listening is a fantastic education, but it's not my nature. I need to be involved. So I did that instead.

In 2003, Congress authorized the construction of a visitor center for the Vietnam Memorial to help provide information and educate the public about the memorial and the Vietnam War.

War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.

I didn't go to school a full year until I was 11 or 12, so I lived in books. I really was an observer of life.