AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT
St. Paul, MN: Midwest Booksellers for Social Responsibility, 1991. Reprint of content that originally appears in the January 7th-14th , 1991 issue of The Nation. Single sheet, printed on both sides. Format is approximately 11 inches by 8.5 inches, folded once so that there are 4 panels/pages. Rare surviving Gulf War related ephemera. The text of the Open Letter is on the first three panels. Publication information is on the last panel. This letter originally appeared as "War and Power: An Open Letter to the President" ((c) 1991) in the January 7th - 14, 1991 issue of The Nation. It has been reprinted by Midwest Booksellers for Social Responsibility as a particularly considered contribution to the national discussion on the crisis in the Persian Gulf. E. L. Doctorow and The Nation Magazine/The Nation Co., Inc. gave permission to reprint this. The open letter, while lauding that the United Nations voted sanctions against Iraq, and supporting the sending of troops to guard Saudi Arabia's borders and provide the military means of interdiction, on the sea and in the air, to punish Iraq by economic strangulation, was not supportive of military operations against Iraq. Doctorow suggests at the end of his Open Letter, that U.S. sanctions and embargo themselves constitute a military action. It is called a siege. The siege is the most cost-effective of all military strategies. Without endangering one's own forces, it brings slow but inevitable doom to the enemy. Doctorow believed that "All we have to do is stand here silently, in our armor, and watch it happen." This was not the course ultimately followed by President Bush and the coalition of the willing. The Gulf War was an armed campaign waged by a United States-led coalition of 35 nations against Iraq in response to the Iraqi invasion and annexation of Kuwait. Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was an American novelist, editor, and professor, best known for his works of historical fiction. He wrote twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama. They included the award-winning novels Ragtime (1975), Billy Bathgate (1989), and The March (2005). These, like many of his other works, placed fictional characters in recognizable historical contexts, with known historical figures, and often used different narrative styles. His stories were recognized for their originality and versatility, and Doctorow was praised for his audacity and imagination. A number of Doctorow's novels and short stories were also adapted for the screen, including Welcome to Hard Times (1967) starring Henry Fonda, Daniel (1983) starring Timothy Hutton, Billy Bathgate (1991) starring Dustin Hoffman, and Wakefield (2016) starring Bryan Cranston. His most notable adaptations were for the film Ragtime (1981) and the Broadway musical of the same name (1998), which won four Tony Awards. Doctorow was the recipient of numerous writing awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award for Ragtime, National Book Critics Circle Award for Billy Bathgate, National Book Critics Circle Award for The March, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction. Former President Barack Obama called him "one of America's greatest novelists" Condition: Very good.
Keywords: Persian Gulf War, Saddam Hussein, United Nations, Sanctions, Military Interdiction, Siege, Ethics, Morality, Survival, Leadership, National Honor, Cost-Effective
[Book #83955]
Price: $100.00