For Veterans Day we’re revisiting two interviews about war. Elliot Ackerman served five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, during which time, he says, he witnessed the absolute worst — as well as the absolute best — that human beings are capable of. Ackerman is also a journalist, novelist, memoirist and National Book Award nominee. His Silver Star is for leading a platoon in the Battle of Fallujah in Iraq.
Historian Matthew Delmont talks about the more than one million Black people who served in the military in WWII, the contributions they made and discrimination they faced, and those who struggled for equality in civilian life. Delmont’s book is Half American.
Film critic Justin Chang reviews David Fincher’s new thriller, The Killer.