If you’ve been following national politics some, you may have heard, from both the left and the right, people naming the “Logan Act” as a way to penalize those Republican senators who sent a letter to Tehran behind Obama’s back. This isn’t the site for it, so I’ll leave it to Charlie Pierce to explainContinue reading “No #47traitors here;The Logan Act’s namesake just wanted peace with France”
Category Archives: book
bloody bloody caricature of the citizen soldier
This Daily Beast call to strip Andrew Jackson off the $20 is way overdue: it doesn’t stop with the Trail of Tears. The military record that made Jackson a “war hero”? One long recitation of atrocity. Heroically breaking a treaty with the Creeks to slaughter them wholesale. Taking advantage of the Battle of New Orleans to ruleContinue reading “bloody bloody caricature of the citizen soldier”
“under no circumstances will I ever embarrass my country”
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in defense of channeling voices
In praise of Harvard’a Jill Lepore — including one book that goes down like an insomniac bedtime story, with endnotes nearly as mesmerizing as the text, and another about Ben Franklin’s sister, whose story is no less than his a biography of America.
PTSD in 1945: let there be truth
I was excited to see Paula Span’s piece today in the Times, “No End to Trauma for Some Older Veterans.” She follows one 80-something vet in his struggles and notes that seeking help wasn’t popular in his war: “The prevailing medical advice — even for someone like Mr. Perna, who had fought in North Africa,Continue reading “PTSD in 1945: let there be truth”
Why Bradley Manning belongs here
I’m already getting assailed for including in my title Bradley Manning, who so many have already branded a traitor — even some vets who are themselves in the book draw the line at what he’s done. But as mesmerized as I am by the case, I’m even more mesmerized by the way it’s galvanized soContinue reading “Why Bradley Manning belongs here”
It’s showtime, folks. Will you be part of it?
That’s the tagline from one of my favorite movies — one about a dynamic creator whose CV I’ll never match, but whose example somewhat weirdly inspires me. I wonder what Bob Fosse would have thought of crowd-sourcing. I like to think he’d have admired the moxie it takes to launch something like this. Please checkContinue reading “It’s showtime, folks. Will you be part of it?”
The real Happy New Year’s of 1863
This day 150 years ago was, of course, pivotal to many of the figures in Ain’t Marching- from Quaker CO’s like Jesse Macy to Lewis H. Douglass.
So for my Civil War chapter I couldn’t resist from painting the scene myself, including its immediate aftermath. We can go on for days about who therein counts as a dissenting soldier, triply on that New Years’ Day — but how not?
Kickstarting: you saw it here first
The photo is of a motorbike called Kickstart: I hope to evoke its spirit this year.
A book by its cover?
A cover design by Brian Siano makes the most of my revised title, and evokes the spirit of the project. What do you think?
I Ain't Marching Anymore 