Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller discuss World War II + Q&A (1995)

Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut, both of whom actively participated in World War II, reminisced about their experiences during the war. Mr. Heller was a bombardier during the war and Mr. Vonnegut was an infantryman who was captured during the Battle of the Bulge. They talked about the horrors of the war for all sides. They also took questions from the audience. Mr. Heller’s most famous war-related work is Catch-22 and Mr. Vonnegut’s are Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five.

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[joshbond]

There's something charming about watching two literary giants not knowing how lapel mics work

[nicksanmiguel]

It makes me happy seeing these guys together

[aldavis]

Watching this on December 27th, 2022, with the Ukraine War and its estimaeed of 250, 00 killed and 500, 000 wounded. They had a optimistic!

[HoldenNY]

There is a "RAp" Video of which is a better book- Heller's "Catch-22 or Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five." I read both book when I was much, much younger and I loved both Books. I like to see if not a YouTube, maybe a written Article on which is a better Book- Catch 22 or Slaughterhouse 5. At the Time, I liked Catch-22 better. I haven't read either Vonnegut or Heller in a long, long time. Maybe I'll read one of Heller's or Vonegut's other books that I have not read.

[xtzyshuadog]

Unnecessary? Depends on your POV, and for Truman who was given select information by his people, his goal may very well have been to save men's lives. His scientists wanted a test run, surveys showed. His top military officials DEEPLY regretted it and resisted it, before and after it happened, and no one else among the Allied Powers saw it coming. But like it or not, it led Russia to wanting to know how it could boost its own science experiments to compete with the US.

And, in the Tokyo Trials, the U.S. let Japanese military officials GO in exchange for data on human experiments Japan had conducted.

[samshepperrd]

1:00:00 Yes the "democratic" country of America did wage wars against the Naive peoples at times and places. But they did now institute a general plan for total extermination the way the Nazis did against ethnicity, nationalities, and gender groups the. And there came a point where Native Americans were accorded reservations where they have considerable autonomy and many are doing economically well today. Not excusing American bad treatment of Naive Peoples. But there is no comparison with Nazis. Much of the worst treatment of Native Americans was perpetrated by Spanish Conquistadors, Russian colonists along America's west coast and gold miners and other exploiters in the 19th century.

Reservations are/were not death camps. Most deaths of native Americans were inadvertent - by diseases the colonists did not understand and did not intentionally transmit to native Americans. The American government and the European colonists for the most part had no intention to completely exterminate Native Americans. The Nazis DID have a dedicated program to totally exterminate ethnic minorities.

[toddydarkko]

"Everything was the color of dogshit"

[tertommy]

That last audience member was a royal pain in the butt know-it-all.

[weallybig]

Vonnegut surrendered to the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge along with most of the 106th Division.

[ricdavid]

He looks pretty good for a smoker of 70 years

[HoldenNY]

There are a lot of "Revisionist" Historians and People like Oliver Stone who thought Dropping the Atomic Bomb was Unncecessary and was done to Scare the Russians.

[RANDALLBRIGGS]

In Slaughterhouse-FIve Vonnegut somehow managed to transform 22, 500 to 25, 000 deaths at Dresden into "135, 000 Hansels and Gretels baked into cookies."