City of St. Paul

The City of St. Paul (Minnesota) recently announced a list of seven books selected for its citywide book club, "St. Paul Reads", which is currently in its sixth year of operation.

One book on the list caught my attention because I have read it -- "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien -- which is based on O'Brien's service in the Vietnam War (Conflict?) in the late 1960's. O'Brien is a native of Worthington, Minnesota.

I do appreciate O'Brien's military service and empathize with his personal struggles regarding the war. Sadly, I can't help but think the St. Paul Reads leaders selected this book as a political statement against the current war in Iraq. Regardless of their motivation let me highlight a much better book about Vietnam called -- "Patriots" -- which is a collection of oral histories from a number of perspectives including American soldiers, the Viet Cong, civilians, etc. This book is a very good read that I would highly recommend.

Give peace a chance, Todd