Tom Engelhardt

An editor in publishing for the last 25 years, Tom Engelhardt is the author of The End of Victory Culture, a history of American triumphalism in the Cold War era, now out in a revised edition with a new preface and afterword, and Mission Unaccomplished, TomDispatch Interviews With American Iconoclasts and Dissenters. He is at present consulting editor for Metropolitan Books, a fellow of the Nation Institute, and a teaching fellow at the journalism school of the University of California, Berkeley. Visit his Web site. This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com.

Greenspan’s Oil Claim in Context

Before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, discussion of Iraqi oil was largely taboo in the American mainstream, while the “No Blood for Oil” signs that dotted antiwar demonstrations were generally derisively dismissed as too simpleminded for serious debate. American officials rarely even mentioned the word “oil” in the same sentence with “Iraq.” When … Continue reading “Greenspan’s Oil Claim in Context”

Freedom as Theft

Let’s take a trip down memory lane. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is America’s highest civilian award, ranking second only to the Congressional Medal of Honor. According to its official Web site, the medal “is reserved for individuals the president deems to have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the … Continue reading “Freedom as Theft”

Glued to Our Seats in the Theater of War

Has anyone noticed that our commander-in-chief no longer plays dress up? He hasn’t done so for a while and that’s no small thing. It’s a phenomenon that came and went almost without comment in the media. I don’t remember the first time I noticed that George W. Bush liked to dress up. It could have … Continue reading “Glued to Our Seats in the Theater of War”

American Exceptionalism Meets Team Jesus

[Note to TomDispatch readers: After a long break, this is the 13th in a series of interviews at the site. The previous 12 were collected in the book Mission Unaccomplished: TomDispatch Interviews with American Iconoclasts and Dissenters.] He’s a man who knows something about the dangers of mixing religious fervor, war, and the crusading spirit, … Continue reading “American Exceptionalism Meets Team Jesus”

Despite Backlash, Many Jews Are Questioning Israel

I often think of the letters that come into the Tomdispatch email box as the university of my later life – messages from around the world, offering commentary, criticism, encouragement, but mainly teaching me about lives (and versions of life) I would otherwise know little or nothing about. Then again, the Internet has a way … Continue reading “Despite Backlash, Many Jews Are Questioning Israel”

Imperial Autism

The former Cockney flower-girl-turned-elegant- English-speaker Eliza Doolittle caught something of our moment in these lyrics from My Fair Lady: “Oh, words, words, words, I’m so sick of words…. Is that all you blighters can do?” Of course, all she had to do was be Pygmalion to a self-involved language teacher. We’ve had to bear with … Continue reading “Imperial Autism”

Launching Brand Petraeus

[Note for Readers: This is the third in TomDispatch’s “by the numbers” series, leading up to this week’s White House “Progress Report” from the U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker. The first, in July, was “Iraq by the Numbers“; the second, in August, was “Escalation by … Continue reading “Launching Brand Petraeus”

Soft Crimes Against Democracy

We live with an administration whose concept of domestic “freedom” went out with those “freedom fries,” briefly sold at the cafeterias of the House of Representatives. The Bush team has quite literally been a force for darkness. For those who remember the “memory hole” down which the bureaucrats of the Ministry of Truth dumped all … Continue reading “Soft Crimes Against Democracy”

Empire of Stupidity

[Note for TomDispatch readers: In the weeks when the first Gulf War was underway – it seems a lifetime ago – I began researching a book on the history of American triumphalism (which I came to call “victory culture”), especially as I had experienced it in my 1950s childhood. By the time I began writing, … Continue reading “Empire of Stupidity”