Links to Recent Articles of Interest
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment blog, posted October 12
Commentary on the Iraqi parliamentary elections. The author teaches Middle East history at the University of Michigan.
By Walker Mimms, Jacobin, posted October 10
The Trinidadian historians C. L. R. James and Eric Williams “forever reshaped how we view the end of slavery in the Caribbean and around the world.” The author teaches history in the Bennington College Prison Initiative.
By Christian G. Appy, Boston Review, posted October 4
A review-essay on The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War by Craig Whitlock and the Washington Post (Simon & Schuster, 2021). The author teaches history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is a well known historian of the Vietnam War.
By Andrew Bacevich, TomDispatch.com, posted September 30
Broadens the meaning of the term “horrible mistake,” applied to the killing of ten civilians, by a US drone attack in Kabul, to apply to the entire US military adventure in the Middle East, starting with the 1983 creation of the U.S. Central Command (“CENTCOM”). The author is a retired US Army colonel and professor emeritus of history and international relations at Boston University.
By Eric Wemple, Washington Post, posted September 30
On the media's swallowing of official untruths that purported to justify the bloody suppression of the September 1971 Attica prison rebellion. The author is a media critic for the Washington Post.
By Nick Turse, TomDispatch.com, posted September 26
Puts a human face on a sampling of civilian victims of US wars, especially since 9/11 (estimated by Brown University's Cost of War Project to have reached between 364,000 and 387,000 during this twenty-year period). The author is managing editor of TomDispatch.
By Anatol Lieven, Responsible Statecraft, posted September 26
“The failure of Afghanistan should open our eyes to the fact that we don’t really know other countries and cultures at all.” The author teaches at Georgetown University.
By Dana Hedgpeth, Washington Post, posted September 26
On the 1863 Bear River Massacre, in which US Army troops killed an estimated 350 members of the Shoshone nation. The author is a Native American who is a reporter for the Washington Post.
By Jeremy Kuzmarov and Roger Peace, History News Network, posted September 26
Argues that the US insistence on unconditional surrender prevented an earlier end to the Pacific war. Jeremy Kuzmarov teaches history at Tulsa Community College and is editor of CovertAction Magazine; Roger Peace coordinates the U.S. Foreign Policy History & Resource Guide website.
By Jeva Lange, The Week, posted September 23
On a recent photograph seeming to show a border agent on horseback using a whip against a Haitian immigrant. The author links the episode to slave hunting and to the violent history of the Texas Rangers. The author is the culture critic at The Week.
Thanks to Rusti Eisenberg and an anonymous reader for recommending articles included in the above list. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.