Toni Morrison visited West Point on Friday where she read from her latest novel, Home, The book is the story of a black man named Frank Money, a Korean War veteran trying to re-assimilate into American society while struggling with PTSD, reports the New York Times.
In a telephone interview beforehand, she explained that she didn't rely on medical textbooks or interviews in researching "Home," but rather drew on David Halberstam's book "The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War" for "its descriptions of the scenery and the weather, especially the brutal cold." In addition, she found inspiration in an "image of a shellshocked veteran from my hometown, who walked up and down the streets in military garb, shouting."
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Ms. Morrison has been outspoken about her opposition to recent American military interventions; however, she accepted the invitation to West Point immediately. "I am a resident of a Hudson River town and consider myself a neighbor," she told the audience at the reading. "I've sailed by West Point but I've never been here. I was thinking I should sail up here today but I just drove."
During the interview Ms. Morrison said she was concerned about the number of suicides by veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. "I dare you to tell me a sane reason we went to Iraq," she said.
Read more at the New York Times.
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