Karl Marlantes (born December 24, 1944) is an American author, businessman, and decorated Marine veteran. Read full biography of Karl Marlantes →
I knew many Marines had done brave deeds that no one saw and for which they got no medals at all. I was having a very hard time carrying those medals... →
When the peace treaty is signed, the war isn't over for the veterans, or the family. It's just starting.
We all want to be special, to stand out; there's nothing wrong with this. The irony is that every human being is special to start with, because... →
'Matterhorn' is my metaphor of the Vietnam War - we built it, we abandoned it, we assaulted it, we lost, and then we abandoned it again.
I mean, if you're proud of what you've done when you've served in the military, well then we call that bragging. And if you are unhappy... →
The Marine Corps taught me how to kill, but it didn't teach me how to deal with killing.
I began writing 'Matterhorn' in 1975 and for more than 30 years I kept working on my novel in my spare time, unable to get an agent or... →
I don't want any romantics to go into the military. I'm not a pacifist. I think we need a military, and the better one we have, the better... →
War is society's dirty work, usually done by kids cleaning up failures perpetrated by adults.
I grew up in Oregon, where as a teenager I worked with my grandfather Axel on his i shing boat at the mouth of the Columbia River.
For every veteran who goes through a divorce, a wife goes through one, too. For every veteran alone in the basement, there is a wife upstairs... →
I mean... if you're raised as a decent human being, killing somebody is against every moral thing you've ever been taught. And so, generally... →
When I first got back from the war, I said, 'I'm gonna write the Great American Novel about the Vietnam War.' So I sat down and wrote... →
Karl Marlantes (born December 24, 1944) is an American author, businessman, and decorated Marine veteran.