American Atrocity: Remembering the Shenandoah Burning by James Bovard, September 30, 2024 George Orwell wrote in 1945 that “the nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.” This week is the 160th anniversary of one of the worst […]
Libertarian Institute My Convict Road Gang Summer by Jim Bovard | Feb 17, 2020 I may have been a rube, but I knew enough not to startle the gargantuan glowering prison guard with that double-barreled shotgun propped on his beer belly. As a sixteen-year-old toiling in the hot sun in 1973 alongside convicts on a […]
Mises Institute, July 3, 2019 Lincoln and Trump: Two of a Kind? by James Bovard President Trump has outraged legions of political opponents with his plan to give a Fourth of July speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. A Washington Post columnist frets that Trump’s speech will leave a “stain” that “won’t ever […]
This is the 150th anniversary of General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. Many commentators are touting Lee’s surrender as a triumph for freedom. While it was a great blessing that slavery ended, the Civil War set precedents for ignoring atrocities that continue to bedevil America. Here’s a piece from the January issue of The Future of […]
Nathan Millet, the editor of MilitaryHistoryNow.com, today posted my article on Sheridan’s 1864 burning of the Shenandoah Valley. MilitaryHistoryNow.Com, February 2, 2015 Sheridan’s Scorched Earth Campaign — The Union Army’s Forgotten War Crime by James Bovard GEORGE ORWELL WROTE in 1945 that “the nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his […]
Washington Times, October 1, 2014 Lessons for today from the Shenandoah’s Civil War flames When civilian atrocities are forgotten, war and its injustices become more likely By James Bovard This is the 150th anniversary of one of the Civil War’s most destructive and controversial campaigns. After Confederate armies had used the Shenandoah Valley to launch […]
UPDATE: Counterpunch reposted this essay on June 26 and LewRockwell.com posted it on the 28th. Reason.com’s J.D. Tuccille discussed the piece in an article on the Hit & Run blog, and a couple folks at LewRockwell.com blog kindly gave it a plug. EconomicPolicyJournal also posted a big chunk of it. I appreciate all the comments and the bevy […]
