Betrayed

Millions of Iraqis, spanning the country’s religious and ethnic spectrum, welcomed the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. But the mostly young men and women who embraced America’s project so enthusiastically… More

Drowning in Apathy

Polar bears are the largest land carnivores, reaching mythic proportions: 12 feet high, 2,000 pounds. They have 42 ivory teeth, and their paws are 12 inches wide, with curved,… More

Keep Out

There is an American tradition of responding to threats by confusing thoughts with acts and temporarily forgetting what Jefferson set down, in 1779, as one of the country’s founding… More

National Press Club Remarks

Listen to this event (1:18:16)PEN American Center is delighted to be sponsoring this event with the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Association, and the Association of American Publishers.… More

Burning From the Inside Out

Irish IndependentThere is a moment from the day after the World Trade Centre bombings that I still recall, though I have never written it down, nor told it to… More

Does It Work?

MIAMI—A few years ago, as I worked on a documentary film about torture survivors in exile from my native Haiti, I met a young woman who under questioning by… More

Are We Really So Fearful?

DURHAM, N.C.—It still haunts me, the first time—it was in Chile, in October of 1973—that I met someone who had been tortured. To save my life, I had sought… More

Places of the Heart

New York TimesIt took two years for me to be able walk to the end of my block and not feel a visceral shock each time I looked down… More