Vonnegut sent McCarthy a letter (and never received a reply) and Cumberbatch is right about how angry Vonnegut had been. The letter to McCarthy included the stirring words: "Books are sacred to free men for very good reasons, and that wars have been fought against nations which hate books and burn them. If you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own . . . it was a rotten lesson you taught young people in a free society when you denounced and then burned books – books you hadn’t even read. You should also resolve to expose your children to all sorts of opinions and information, in order that they will be better equipped to make decisions and to survive."