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.

Being and Adaptation

A few nights ago I saw “Adaptation,” the smartest movie since “Being John Malkovich.” There’s a reason why.

Brother, Can You Spare $200 Billion?

The cost of invading Iraq, according to The Washington Post. No refund from Saudi Arabia this time.

Shakespeare Explains the Balkans

The Bosnian war had its share of unforgettable monsters—Slobodan Milosevic, Franjo Tudjman, Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic come to mind—but the most intriguing (and least notorious) was Nikola Koljevic, a Shakespearean scholar who was an architect of the attempted genocide against Bosnia’s ... (Read more)

The Internet Meets Philanthropy

Organizations like United Way can give philanthropy a bad name. This story in The New York Times outlines the deceptive manner in which United Way accounts for the money it receives, and as the Times notes, “Its accounting ... (Read more)

How to Win Friends and Influence People–In Afghanistan

Bob Woodward’s new book, “Bush at War,” offers more details on the campaign to buy victory in Afghanistan. According to an excerpt in today’s Washington Post, a senior CIA undercover agent, ... (Read more)

Cash Killed the Taliban

In a story that previews Bob Woodward’s new book, “Bush at War,” The Washington Post reports that the purchase of warlords’ loyalty played a large role in toppling the Taliban from power. ... (Read more)

The Quiet American

On September 10, 2001 a test audience viewed an early cut of “The Quiet American,” which stars Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser in an adaptation of Graham Greene’s classic novel about America’s unfortunate foray into Vietnam. The audience loved the film but a day later the ... (Read more)

A Bulletproof Mind

My newest story, about the Special Forces, is in today’s New York Times Magazine, and is posted here and here. This is how it begins:

Major Christopher Miller lay awake on a cot in a filthy room, no larger than a prison cell and cluttered with weapons and ammunition. He couldn’t sleep. ... (Read more)

A Bulletproof Mind: The Special Forces and the Traumas of Battle

The New York Times Magazine
November 10, 2002

Major Christopher Miller lay awake on a cot in a filthy room, no larger than a prison cell and cluttered with weapons and ammunition. He couldn’t sleep. It was a cold January night at the Special Forces base in Kandahar, and Miller was on the verge ... (Read more)

John Burns Talks About Iraq

It’s not easy competing against John Burns, who has won two Pulitzer Prizes for his overseas reporting. I learned this the hard way, when he was based in Sarajevo for The New York Times in the early 1990s and I was working there for The Washington Post. We nearly got into a fistfight, ... (Read more)