Throughline

All Wars Are Fought Twice

Mar 24, 2022

Viet Thanh Nguyen, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and memory scholar, discusses how wars are remembered and its impact on identity. He explores the dual narratives of the Vietnam War, emphasizing the complexity of personal versus national memories. Nguyen sheds light on recent conflicts like Ukraine and Afghanistan, advocating for the acknowledgment of refugee stories and the need to confront historical injustices. His insights highlight the ongoing battle of memory, shaping our understanding of war's enduring effects and the resilience of those affected.

48:11

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Viet Thanh Nguyen

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Episode notes

Intro

2min

The Power of Memory and Narrative in War

2min

The Complexity of War Memories

2min

Reflections on the Vietnam War

9min

Exploring the Depths of Memory and War Narratives

2min

The Dual Narratives of the Vietnam War

15min

Confronting the Past: The Narratives of War

5min

Reflections on War: From Afghanistan to Vietnam

8min

Echoes of War and Youthful Resilience

5min

"All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory," writes Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen. This week on Throughline, we want to pause the news cycle to think about not just how war is experienced or consumed, but how it's remembered. A refugee from the Vietnam War, Nguyen calls himself a scholar of memory — someone who studies how we remember events of the past, both as people and as nations. As the world watches the war in Ukraine — and with the U.S. departure from Afghanistan still fresh — we speak with Nguyen about national memory, selective forgetting, and the refugee stories that might ultimately help us move forward.

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