I used to think it was possible for an artist to alter the inner life of the culture. Now bomb-makers and gunmen have taken that territory.

Too young for Korea, too old for Vietnam.

It's no accident that my first novel was called Americana. This was a private declaration of independence, a statement of my intention to use the whole picture, the whole culture.

the Soviet entry into the war played a greater role than the atomic bombs in inducing Japan to surrender.

The war was over, ... They were defeated by the time he dropped those bombs -- I think he wanted to know whether they would work. And I think Truman was the kind of guy when he disliked you, he disliked you with a passion.

The guns and the bombs, the rockets and the warships, are all symbols of human failure.