Links to Recent Articles of Interest
By Andrew Bacevich, TomDispatch.com, posted September 10
A fanciful alcohol-fueled conversation between long-dead generals George Patton and William Westmoreland and a fictitious general who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The author is a retired Army colonel and a professor emeritus of history and international relations at Boston University.
By David Vine et al., Watson Institute, Brown University, posted September 8
This new report from the Watson Institute's Costs of War Project at Brown University estimates that “at least 37 million people have fled their homes in the eight most violent wars the U.S. military has launched or participated in since 2001.”
Briefing book edited by Peter Kornbluh, National Security Archive, posted September 4
On the 50th anniversary of socialist Salvador Allende's election as president of Chile, Georgetown University's National Security Archive has published declassified documents showing that the Nixon administration began immediate efforts to destabilize Chile, leading to the military coup of September 1973.
By Stephen Kinzer, Boston Globe, posted September 3
On the continuing damage done by the 2011 NATO bombing of Libya. The author is a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.
By Rick Perlstein, New York Times, posted September 2
On the Ford administration's hurried election-year production of a vaccine that caused hundreds of cases of the paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome. The author has written several books on modern American conservatism, most recently Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-1980 (Simon and Schuster, 2020).
By Joseph Stieb, War on the Rocks, posted September 1
A review essay on Robert Draper's new book To Start a War: How the Bush Administration Took America into Iraq (Penguin Press, 2020). The author of the essay has a PhD in history from the University of North Carolina and is writing a book on the containment of Iraq.
By Martha S. Jones, Washington Post, posted August 25
The author teaches history at Johns Hopkins University, and her book Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All is due in September from Basic Books.
By John Bodnar, History News Network, posted August 23
The author is a professor emeritus of history at Indiana University and author of Divided by Terror: Patriotism in Post-9-11 America (U. of North Carolina Press, 2021).
By Rick Perlstein, Time, posted August 20
On the successful effort by the rising conservative movement within the Republican Party to force the party's congressional leaders to abandon their initial support for President Carter's proposals to make voter registration easier through national legislation.
By Victoria de Grazia, Zocalo Public Square, posted August 13
“Using the word incorrectly oversimplifies history – and won't help us address our current political crisis.” The author teaches history at Columbia University and is the author of, among other books, of The Perfect Fascist: A Story of Love, Power, and Morality in Mussolini's Italy (Harvard U. Press, 2020).
Thanks to an anonymous reader for flagging some of the above articles. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.