Author Talk with H. Bruce Franklin
Date and Time
Nov 11, 2018 6:00 pm
Location
14th & V
2021 14th St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20009
Nov 11, 2018 6:00 pm
14th & V
Growing up during the Second World War, H. Bruce Franklin believed
what he was told: that America’s victory would lead to a new era of
world peace. Like most Americans, he was soon led to believe in a
world-wide Communist conspiracy that menaced the United States,
forcing the nation into a disastrous war in Korea. But once he joined
the U.S. Air Force and began flying top-secret missions as a navigator
and intelligence officer, what he learned was eye-opening. He saw
that even as the U.S. preached about peace and freedom, it was
engaging in an endless cycle of warfare, bringing devastation and
oppression to fledgling democracies across the globe.
Now, after fifty years as a renowned cultural historian, Franklin offers a set of hard-learned lessons
about modern American history. Crash Course is essential reading for anyone who wonders how
America ended up where it is today: with a deeply divided and disillusioned populace, led by a
dysfunctional government, and mired in unwinnable wars. It also finds startling parallels between
America’s foreign military exploits and the equally brutal tactics used on the home front to crush
organized labor, antiwar, and civil rights movements.
More than just a memoir or a history book, Crash Course gives readers a unique firsthand look at
the building of the American empire and the damage it has wrought. Shocking and gripping as any
thriller, it exposes a decades-long deception of the American public and commemorates the
millions who have been fighting for decades for peace and justice.
