The FPA’s Must Reads (April 19 – April 25)

What We Left Behind
The New Yorker
By Dexter Filkins

Dexter Filkins examines with deep insight the state of Iraq and its increasingly authoritarian Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki  after U.S. withdrawal.

“H G Wells: ‘It seems to me that I am more to the Left than you, Mr Stalin'”
The New Statesman
By H.G. Wells

Eighty years ago, H G Wells  traveled to Moscow to meet with Soviet writers and to interview Joseph Stalin. This year, the New Statesman has republished H G Wells’ interview with one of the twentieth century’s most notorious and controversial leaders.

‘Ugh. I miss it’
The Washington Post
By Eli Saslow

In this emotionally charged report, Eli Saslow follows Derric Winters, an Iraq War combat veteran, struggling to help other veterans adapt to civilian life even as he struggles to adapt civilian life himself.

Bonfire of the Humanities
Outside
By Patrick Symmes

Patrick Symmes travels to Timbuktu to visit the remote war-torn city home to thousands of beautiful medieval manuscripts and learns how its dedicated citizens saved their national treasure from a jihadist book-burning campaign.

Let the Past Collapse on Time!
New York Review of Books
By Vladimir Sorokin

Vladimir Sorokin, a renown contemporary Russian writer, reminisces about his participation in the peaceful protests that brought down the Soviet Union in 1991, arguing that they truly were too peaceful, and that Russians never truly let go of the Soviet past.

Blogs:

Reaffirmation of Islamic Philanthropy: a reflection by Abukar Arman
Learning From Barbarian Underdogs by Oliver Barrett
Hamilton, Jefferson, and the Fate of the Export-Import Bank by Tom Garry
Oil is treasure as African piracy shifts west by Jordan Stutts
China’s State-Run Media Slam Hong Kong Democracy Activists for U.S. Visit by Mark C. Eades

Podcast:

Dr. Pamela Crossley on U.S. -China relations with Sarwar Kashmeri