About the Author
The author of Battle Fatigue, Mark Kurlansky, was born on December 7, 1948 in Hartford, Connecticut. He has written a multitude (30 to be exact) of fiction and nonfiction books, including bestsellers such as Nonviolence, 1968, and Cod. Kurlansky has received many awards over the years: the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Nonviolence, Bon Appetit 's Food Writer of the Year Award, the James Beard Award for Cod, and the ALA Notable Book Council Award for 1968. In addition to being a writer, Kurlansky has also worked as a commercial fisherman, a dock worker, a paralegal, a cook, and a pastry chef. Most recently, however, he is working as a journalist in New York City.
Kurlansky believes that it should be a man’s choice as to whether or not he wants to served in the armed forces. If your conscience dissuades you from participating in the war, then that should be acceptable and not be frowned upon. Similar to the main character in Battle Fatigue (Joel Bloom), Kurlansky also refused to serve in the military, and instead attended Butler University in 1970. His
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For example, a young Joel Bloom tries to comprehend the Cuban Missile Crisis: “The Russians started it. They put nuclear missiles in Cuba. Now we have to make them take the missiles away. We could get their nukes in Cuba with our nukes, but they have more nukes to get us and we have plenty more to get them. It sounds like the games we used to play as kids” (Kurlansky 90). I would say the book is written to give the reader a broad outline of real world events, but it is really more about how Joel interprets them. The events are not reported on in detail, but are instead interpreted by a boy growing up while they are happening. Obviously, the narrator is only going to have a basic understanding of things like the Cuban Missile Crisis because he was only a boy at the