When a Philosopher Goes to War

If you ever thought war reportage could use more intellectual depth–wouldn’t it be interesting for a philosopher to wander the fields of battle?–I have two wonderful words for you: Carolin Emcke. Other than her last book, “Echoes of Violence,” little of Emcke’s work has been translated into English from German. But Emcke, who has a doctorate in philosophy and is a war correspondent for Die Zeit, has begun posting translations of her articles, including a great one she wrote not long ago for Die Zeit about Iraq. Read her work, remember it (you will) and pass it around.

Author: Peter Maass

I was born and raised in Los Angeles. In 1983, after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, I went to Brussels as a copy editor for The Wall Street Journal/Europe. I left the Journal in 1985 to write for The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune, covering NATO and the European Union. In 1987 I moved to Seoul, South Korea, where I wrote primarily for The Washington Post. After three years in Asia I moved to Budapest to cover Eastern Europe and the Balkans. I spent most of 1992 and 1993 covering the war in Bosnia for the Post.