Scribbler
When I was struggling to get going on my dissertation, Professor Paul Kennedy gave me some sagacious, if simple, advice: “Just start scribbling.” Surprisingly, it worked—that is, as long as I thought of the writing process as scribbling out ideas rather than composing polished prose, I at least succeeded in getting words on the screen. And that gave me something to work with.
So why have a separate menu for “Scribbler” when that’s basically what I do as a “Historian”? In addition to my academic books and articles, I’ve written essays for non scholarly journals like the New York Times, Washington Post, Die Zeit, Daily Express, Baltimore Sun, Forward, and the punchy news weekly Dani [Days] in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Many of these writings are related to my work as a historian or, at a minimum, informed by historical thinking. But I’ve also churned out a few political pieces, churned up some controversy, and, as a rule, charge up the computer whenever I have a notion that needs enlarging. Below are some select examples of my scribbles (see my CV for the full listing). If you think you might want me to write for you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch! Thanks.
“Augustovske bombe: Od Sarajeva do Hirošime i Nagasakija” [The Bombs of August: From Sarajevo to Hiroshima and Nagasaki], Novosti (Zagreb), 1235 (August 18, 2023): 28.
“Mastermind Plot or Dumb Luck: Truth Behind the Assassination that Led to First World War,”
Daily Express (London, June 20, 2022).
“What the Hapsburg Empire Got Right,” with Claire Morelon (University of Manchester),
The New York Times (September 10, 2019).
“What We Can Learn from the Failed Peace of World War I,"
The Washington Post, “Made by History” (June 28, 2019).
“What Everyone Gets Wrong About the Start of World War I,”
The Washington Post, “Made by History” (November 12, 2018).
“Kein Denkmal für den Toten” [No Memorial for the Dead],
with Alma Hannig (University of Bonn), Die Zeit 27 (June 26, 2014): 11–12.
“Another way for society to show it values teachers,”
The Baltimore Sun 180 (June 29, 2010): 13.
“Nacionalistička manipulacija genocidom” [Nationalist Manipulation Through Genocide],
DANI 524 (June 29, 2007): 58–61.
“Svi Ste Vi Jevreji” [You Are All Jews],
DANI 518 (May 18, 2007): 64–71.
“Lingering nationalism darkens Serbia’s future,”
The Baltimore Sun (January 30, 2007): 11A.
“Kako sam Bosancima predavao genocid” [How I Lectured to Bosnians on Genocide],
DANI 432 (September 23, 2005): 24–28.
“9/11 and the ‘What If…?’ Debate,”
Forward (June 14, 2002): 11.
“Love for WMC Guided Selection of its New Name,”
The Baltimore Sun (May 24, 2002): 21A.