Military historian Andrew Bacevich recounted the failed U.S. military effort over several decades to “fix” the Islamic world, explaining what went wrong and why. This course offered a history of that war, for better understanding of the factors that inspired the United States to engage in this conflict and to persist in a doomed enterprise. Inviting participants to learn how the war unfolded from one phase to the next, from the era of Jimmy Carter to the age of Barack Obama, it catalogued the errors of judgment and implementation made along the way. Finally, it encouraged learners to consider alternative approaches to policy that might have better served the interests of the United States and of the people living in countries invaded, occupied, bombed and otherwise subjected to American punishment. The course was offered on edX in 2014 and 2015.
War for the Greater Middle East
Course Description
Course Team
Andrew Bacevich
Andrew Bacevich is a Professor Emeritus of International Relations and History at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, he received his PhD in American Diplomatic History from Princeton University. Before joining the faculty of Boston University, he taught at West Point and Johns Hopkins University.
Mark Kukis
Prior to pursing his PhD in American history and international relations at Boston University, Mark Kukis worked for a decade worked for a decade as a journalist before undertaking doctoral studies, including three years as a correspondent for Time magazine in Iraq. His writing has also appeared in theNew Republic and Salon, among other places. His most recent book is Voices from Iraq: A People’s History, 2003-2009 (Columbia University Press, 2011), an oral history of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq as told by Iraqis. As an undergraduate Kukis studied journalism at the University of Texas at Austin.