Season 1 · Episode 34
Episode 34: “Einstein, Hemingway, and Vietnam,” or Joe Haldeman’s Forever War, Part I
October 26, 20231h 14m
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Show Notes
The Forever War is widely regarded as an analogy for America’s involvement in Vietnam, and an anti-war novel, but we’re not so sure it’s firmly anti-war. Perhaps more anti-military. But that said, Haldeman’s protagonist doesn’t consider the apparently antagonistic aliens, the Taurans, to be the real Enemy. The UMBs are blown away by the ideation and certain moments of prose, but raise doubts about the one-way nature of the structure