Author: Tom Engelhardt

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I felt it then. I feel far more certain of it now. My dad, who died in 1983, was a member of what came to be known as the Greatest Generation, those who served in World War II. In fact, he volunteered the day after Pearl Harbor (though he was then old enough that he might not have been drafted) and ended up in the U.S. Army Air Corps — there was no separate Air Force in those read more

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In her piece today, TomDispatch regular Frida Berrigan brings up a past I remember all too well. Indeed, I can still recall my teacher putting a radio on her desk when I was a schoolboy in the 1950s so we could hear what must have been read more

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Alice wouldn’t recognize America’s real-life tea party, which could hardly get madder (or so I say now). Instead of the Queen of Hearts — you know, the character in Alice in Wonderland who ordered read more

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An Obituary for Our World And I’m Not Kidding! By Tom Engelhardt

Oddly enough, I’ve read obituaries with fascination from the time I was quite young. And yet, in all these years, I’ve never really reflected on that fact. I don’t know whether it was out of some indirect fascination with death and the end of it all or curiosity about the wholeness (or half-ness or brokenness) of an individual life in full. But here’s the odd thing: read more

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Yep, in a world in which inflation and oil read more

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War is, to say the least, nothing new. In his memorable first book, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Chris Hedges began with a read more

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Today’s Nick Turse piece on U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) plunged me into an all-American past that, in light of this planet’s chaotic present, had faded from my mind a bit. After all, TomDispatch began more than 20 years ago in the wake of the al-Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001. In a sense, this site was my response to the way President George W. Bush and read more

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Thinking about the world of war explored today by TomDispatch regular Karen Greenberg, author most recently of Subtle read more

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I remember two boys from the 1950s.

The first of them took the subway out to Ebbets Field as often as he could to see “his” team, the Brooklyn Dodgers. (When in the grandstands with his friends, he thought there was nothing funnier than to yell “Beer here!” as the fellow selling brew walked by — and then duck fast.) So many years later, I think he could still name read more

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Governor Ron DeSantis — you know, the guy who sent those plane loads of immigrants flying from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, with read more