During the invasion of Iraq, Marine Lt. Tim McLaughlin commanded a tank platoon that was at the forefront of the American assault. McLaughlin kept an intensely personal diary of the invasion that he shared with me a few years later. The diary, illustrated with maps, diagrams and pictures, is a remarkable account of war. Along with photographer Gary Knight, Tim and I co-organized a gallery exhibit that featured poster-sized blowups of pages from his diary, as well as photos of the invasion by Gary and texts by me. The exhibit opened at the Bronx Documentary Center in New York City and also was featured at Drexel University, Boston College and the University of California at Irvine. Below are selected posts from the WarDiaries.Org website we created for the exhibit.
- Boston College Law SchoolNewton, MAPanel discussion with Tim McLaughlin and Gary Knight about our joint exhibit, “Invasion: Diaries and Memories of War in Iraq,” which will be on display at Boston College from October 28-November 20. Panel starts at 6:30 in East Wing Room 120 at the law school, 885 Centre ... (Read more)
- Drexel UniversityPhiladelphia, PAPanel discussion with Gary Knight and Tim McLaughlin about our exhibit, Invasion: Diaries and Memories of War in Iraq, which will be on display at Drexel University’s College of Media Arts & Design. Discussion in the URBN Center Annex at 6 pm, followed by a reception ... (Read more)
- A Diarist At WarThe New York TimesMarch 14, 2013(The following story ran on the NYT’s At War blog) With the invasion of Iraq just weeks away, Lt. Tim McLaughlin began a military ritual that dates back to Homer. He started a war diary. It was not a blog or e-mails sent from his waiting-to-invade base in the Kuwaiti ... ...
- Invasion: Diaries and Memories of War in IraqThe exhibit I have been working on, Invasion: Diaries and Memories of War in Iraq, opened last week at the Bronx Documentary Center in New York City. It features the remarkable war diaries of Marine Lt. Tim McLaughlin, excerpts of stories I wrote about the invasion, and photos by Gary Knight. ... (Read more)
- A Private Battle for BaghdadSunday Times Magazine (London)March 3, 2013A few years ago, a former marine named Tim McLaughlin drove to New Hampshire in his red pickup to visit his parents’ farmhouse, which is where he stored his gear from Iraq, among which were his war diaries. A marine decal was on one ... (Read more)
- Invasion, the KickstarterInvasion, the Kickstarter
- The Toppling: How the Media Inflated a Minor Moment in a Long WarThe New YorkerJanuary 3, 2011On April 9, 2003, Lieutenant Colonel Bryan McCoy, commander of the 3rd Battalion 4th Marines, awoke at a military base captured from the Iraqis a few miles from the center of Baghdad, which was still held by the enemy. It had been twenty days since the ... (Read more)
- The TopplingOn April 9, 2003, Lieutenant Colonel Bryan McCoy, commander of the 3rd Battalion 4th Marines, awoke at a military base captured from the Iraqis a few miles from the center of Baghdad, which was still held by the enemy. It had been twenty days since the invasion of Iraq began, and McCoy had some personal ...