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.

‘Control Room’ On Firdos Square

The documentary “Control Room” featured several Al Jazeera journalists who said the toppling was planned in advance by the U.S. military, to the extent that people were brought to the square to participate in the event. Click here to view that scene from “Control Room.”

Miami Book Fair

Miami, FL
Panel discussion with Heidi Cullen and Gwynne Dyer at 4 pm on Nov 20. At Miami Dade College, 300 NE Second Ave., Room 7106/7107 (Building 7, 1st Floor). For more info, click here.

8 Magazine’s Issue on Oil

If you want to see the best collection of oil photos from around the world that I’ve ever seen, pick up the current issue of 8 Magazine. True, the “Empire” chapter of Crude ... (Read more)

Globe and Mail Talk

Toronto, Canada
Breakfast talk on oil, organized by The Globe and Mail, MacKenzie Financial and Ramsay Breakfast Group. Tickets required. Talk starts at 8 a.m., breakfast from 7:30 a.m., on Nov. 9 at One King West Hotel, 1 King Street in downtown Toronto (at Yonge and ... (Read more)

Modern Pillage

Do your cellphone or gas tank contain natural resources that were pillaged from conflict-ridden countries? It’s quite possible, and that’s why law professor James G. Stewart has written an innovative blueprint for prosecuting corporations that pillage (the ... (Read more)

University of Texas at Austin

Austin, Tx
Public lecture about Crude World and the future of oil. Joynes Room, Carothers (CRD) 007, 2501 Whitis Ave. Enter through the east doors of the honors quad.

Wikileaks Sheds Light on Brutality of Samarra

In 2005 I wrote a cover story for the NYT Magazine about abuses committed by Iraqi troops working with American forces. These sorts of abuses–Iraqi ... (Read more)

Crude Truths–the Talk, the Flyer

I’m doing a talk in Austin at the University of Texas on Oct. 28, for which the organizers have created a compelling flyer.

What Happens When an Industry Regulates Itself?

You get the financial collapse of 2008 and, as an excellent Wall Street Journal story shows, you get the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Both ... (Read more)

The Strange Beauty of Spomenik

If you appreciate odd architecture from another era and another place, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union are filled with war monuments that always leave an impression. Belgian photographer Jan Kempenaers visited the striking Tito-era war monuments that dot the former ... (Read more)