Interviews with Historians

[John Simkin]

I have mentioned before that I thought it would be a good idea to have a section on the E-HELP website where we interview historians about their work. You will find the first of these here:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=6761

Angela John is a feminist historian who is willing to talk about her craft. Hopefully other members will join in this debate.

Do any other members know of any other historians who would be willing to discuss the books they have written?

Others who have agreed to talk about their books on the Forum include:

Nick Cullather, former CIA staff historian and now professor of history at Indiana University and the author of Secret History: The Classified CIA Account of its Operations in Guatemala, 1952-54 (1999).

Gerald D. McKnight, professor of history at Hood College and the author of The Last Crusade: Martin Luther King Jr., the FBI and the Poor People's Campaign (1998) and Breach of Trust: How the Warren Commission Failed the Nation (2005).

David Kaiser, professor in the Strategy and Policy Department of the Naval War College and the author of Politics and War: European Conflict from Philip II to Hitler (1990) and American Tragedy: Kennedy, Johnson, and the Origins of the Vietnam War (2000).

Alfred W. McCoy, professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the author of The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia (1972) and A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror (2006).

Peter Dale Scott, is professor of English at the University of California (Berkeley) and author of The War Conspiracy: The Secret Road to the Second Indochina War (1972), Crime and Cover-Up: The CIA, the Mafia, and the Dallas-Watergate Connection (1977), Deep Politics and the Death of JFK (1993), Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America (1998) and Drugs, Oil, and War: The United States in Afghanistan, Colombia, and Indochina (2003).

Joan Mellen, professor of English and creative writing at Temple University, Philadelphia. Her books include The Battle of Algiers (1972), Women and Their Sexuality in the New Film (1974), Big Bad Wolves: Masculinity in the American Cinema (1975), The Waves at Genji's Door: Japan through Its Cinema (1976), Kay Boyle: Author of Herself (1994) and a book about the relationship between the two writers, Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett, Hellman and Hammett (1996). Her latest book, A Farewell to Justice (2005) is a biography of Jim Garrison.

I also plan to interview journalists who have written history books. This includes:

Robin Ramsay: Smear! Wilson and the Secret State! (1991) and The Rise of New Labour (2002).

Robert Parry: Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, The Press & Project Truth (1992), The October Surprise X-Files: The Hidden Origins of the Reagan-Bush Era (1996) and Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq (2004)

Anton Chaitkin: George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography (1992)

William Turner: Hoover's FBI: The Men and the Myth (1970), Power on the Right (1973), The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy (1978), The Fish Is Red: The Story of the Secret War Against Castro (1981), Deadly Secrets (1992) and Rearview Mirror: Looking Back at the FBI, the CIA and Other Tails (2001).

Joseph Trento: Windows: Four American Spies, the Wives They Left Behind, and the KGB'S Crippling of American Intelligence (1989), Renegade CIA: Inside the Covert Intelligence Operations of George Bush (1993) The Secret History of the CIA, 1946-1989 (2001) and Prelude to Terror: The Rise of the Bush Dynasty, the Rogue CIA, and the Comprising of American Intelligence (2005).

Jim Marrs: Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy (1992), Alien Agenda: Investigating the Extraterrestrial Presence Among Us (1998), The Enigma Files: The True Story of America's Psychic Warfare Program (1999), Rule by Secrecy (2000), PSI Spies (2000), The War on Freedom (2003), Inside Job: Unmasking the 9/11 Conspiracies (2004) and The Terror Conspiracy: Provocation, Deception and 9/11 (2006).

Dan E. Moldea The Hoffa Wars (1978), The Hunting of Cain (1983), Dark Victory (1986), Interference (1989), The Killing of Robert F. Kennedy (1995), Evidence Dismissed (1997) and A Washington Tragedy (1998).

Joel Bainerman had originally agreed to discuss his book, Crimes of a President (1993). However, when he saw my questions he changed his mind and wrote back:

"I was targeted for murder by a member of the first Bush's White House. Since then I have kept my nose clean for fear of my health and safety. I will communicate with anyone privately- but don't want to start posting anything publicly on the Net."

[John Simkin]

Two other interviews have been added:

David Kaiser

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=6853

Jim Marrs

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=6850

Thank you Dan for getting involved. I hope others will supply questions (maybe you could ask your classes for questions). I think the debate on the difference between being a journalist and a historian is fascinating.

[John Simkin]

I have now added an interview with Robin Ramsay:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=6878