Kim A. Wagner
@kimatiwagner.bsky.social
Historian of empire, violence and atrocity photography - currently writing about the My Lai Massacre.
Latest book: 'Massacre in the Clouds - An American Atrocity and the Erasure of History' (PublicAffairs, 2024)
London - Wylie Agency
Latest book: 'Massacre in the Clouds - An American Atrocity and the Erasure of History' (PublicAffairs, 2024)
London - Wylie Agency
Pinned
'There was a map of Vietnam on the wall of my apartment in Saigon and some nights, coming back late to the city, I'd lie out on my bed and look at it, too tired to do anything more than just get my boots off.'
Michael Herr, Dispatches
Finally got an old French map of my own...
Michael Herr, Dispatches
Finally got an old French map of my own...
Don't make me tap the sign...
November 22, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Don't make me tap the sign...
It's frustrating to see people invoke Lt. Calley as an example of how 'just following orders' is not a legitimate excuse. He was barely punished and there were dozens of US soldiers who literally got away with murder after the My Lai Massacre.
I really wish Americans knew their own history better.
I really wish Americans knew their own history better.
November 22, 2025 at 3:03 PM
It's frustrating to see people invoke Lt. Calley as an example of how 'just following orders' is not a legitimate excuse. He was barely punished and there were dozens of US soldiers who literally got away with murder after the My Lai Massacre.
I really wish Americans knew their own history better.
I really wish Americans knew their own history better.
The life of a historian: today I've been reading and writing about explosive head wounds - and looking at photos thereof.
Krakens and mermaids sound funner...
Krakens and mermaids sound funner...
The life of a historian: today I've been reading and writing about krakens and mermaids. There's worse ways to spend a working day than this. It can be an intensely privileged profession - not for all, indeed for fewer and fewer. But on days like these I'm reminded why I flogged myself to get here.
November 21, 2025 at 5:10 PM
The life of a historian: today I've been reading and writing about explosive head wounds - and looking at photos thereof.
Krakens and mermaids sound funner...
Krakens and mermaids sound funner...
Your daily reminder that there are plenty of 'lawful orders' that have historically led to atrocities. Doesn't mean it's not a good thing for people to stand up to Trump, but let's not be naive...
November 21, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Your daily reminder that there are plenty of 'lawful orders' that have historically led to atrocities. Doesn't mean it's not a good thing for people to stand up to Trump, but let's not be naive...
Sometimes you don't even need Isaac Chotiner to do a Chotiner...
I'm struck by this clip of former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz saying Holocaust education has backfired in part because people Palestinians as victims: "They think the lesson of the Holocaust is…you fight the big powerful people hurting the weak people."
www.reddit.com/r/JewsOfCons...
www.reddit.com/r/JewsOfCons...
From the JewsOfConscience community on Reddit: Former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz speaking to the Jewish Federation and lamenting that young people are learning the wrong lessons from Holocaust e...
Explore this post and more from the JewsOfConscience community
www.reddit.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Sometimes you don't even need Isaac Chotiner to do a Chotiner...
50% off books from Yale Universoty Press - including 'Amritsar 1919', the first volume in my massacre trilogy. Perfect Christmas present for that special one in your life who is into atrocities (and the history and afterlives of the British Empire in India)
November 15, 2025 at 4:49 PM
50% off books from Yale Universoty Press - including 'Amritsar 1919', the first volume in my massacre trilogy. Perfect Christmas present for that special one in your life who is into atrocities (and the history and afterlives of the British Empire in India)
Spent veteran's day with Ron Haeberle and a group of Vietnam veterans at a high school in Ohio. I'm still trying to make sense of the particular brand of popular politics that instills unquestionable pride in military service *and* at the same time acknowledges what happened at My Lai...
November 12, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Spent veteran's day with Ron Haeberle and a group of Vietnam veterans at a high school in Ohio. I'm still trying to make sense of the particular brand of popular politics that instills unquestionable pride in military service *and* at the same time acknowledges what happened at My Lai...
'World' is doing a lot of work here...
November 12, 2025 at 2:56 PM
'World' is doing a lot of work here...
Currently visiting Ron Haeberle - the army photographer who took the images at My Lai in 1968 - and nothing could really have prepared me for seeing the original 35mm slides in person.
November 10, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Currently visiting Ron Haeberle - the army photographer who took the images at My Lai in 1968 - and nothing could really have prepared me for seeing the original 35mm slides in person.
Good to know that Samar, My Lai and Abu Ghraib were all *departures* from the American way of making war.
Some weapons-grade US exceptionalism (i.e. acute historical amnesia) from Jonathan Horn here...😑
www.wsj.com/opinion/sple...
Some weapons-grade US exceptionalism (i.e. acute historical amnesia) from Jonathan Horn here...😑
www.wsj.com/opinion/sple...
November 8, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Good to know that Samar, My Lai and Abu Ghraib were all *departures* from the American way of making war.
Some weapons-grade US exceptionalism (i.e. acute historical amnesia) from Jonathan Horn here...😑
www.wsj.com/opinion/sple...
Some weapons-grade US exceptionalism (i.e. acute historical amnesia) from Jonathan Horn here...😑
www.wsj.com/opinion/sple...
Reposted by Kim A. Wagner
October 28, 2025 at 10:16 AM
The youngest wanted to be an android geisha for Halloween - one more addition to the collection...
October 25, 2025 at 2:04 PM
The youngest wanted to be an android geisha for Halloween - one more addition to the collection...
Well, that's exciting - Michael Mann working on a new Vietnam war movie:
October 19, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Well, that's exciting - Michael Mann working on a new Vietnam war movie:
Reposted by Kim A. Wagner
During the Philippine–American War, the US Army’s massacre of between 600 and 1,200 civilians made for “sensational news in the United States when it was first reported…. Eventually the event disappeared from popular consciousness and barely figured in popular accounts.” —Vicente L. Rafael
Massacre Under the Starry Flag | Vicente L. Rafael
The history of a single photograph reveals how an atrocity in the Philippines was forgotten by its American perpetrators.
buff.ly
October 11, 2025 at 11:11 AM
During the Philippine–American War, the US Army’s massacre of between 600 and 1,200 civilians made for “sensational news in the United States when it was first reported…. Eventually the event disappeared from popular consciousness and barely figured in popular accounts.” —Vicente L. Rafael
More people were killed during the Bud Dajo Massacre in 1906 than at Wounded Knee and My Lai combined - and yet this American atrocity has been largely forgotten.
Review of my book 'Massacre in the Clouds' by @vrafael82.bsky.social in @nybooks.com:
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Review of my book 'Massacre in the Clouds' by @vrafael82.bsky.social in @nybooks.com:
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Massacre Under the Starry Flag | Vicente L. Rafael
The history of a single photograph reveals how an atrocity in the Philippines was forgotten by its American perpetrators.
www.nybooks.com
October 3, 2025 at 4:50 PM
More people were killed during the Bud Dajo Massacre in 1906 than at Wounded Knee and My Lai combined - and yet this American atrocity has been largely forgotten.
Review of my book 'Massacre in the Clouds' by @vrafael82.bsky.social in @nybooks.com:
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Review of my book 'Massacre in the Clouds' by @vrafael82.bsky.social in @nybooks.com:
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Just bought this on Ebay for $5 - Alfred (of 'Mad Magazine' fame) as Lt. Calley, 'National Lampoon', August 1971
September 30, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Just bought this on Ebay for $5 - Alfred (of 'Mad Magazine' fame) as Lt. Calley, 'National Lampoon', August 1971
If only someone had written a book about this particular form of historical erasure...🤔
September 26, 2025 at 7:08 AM
If only someone had written a book about this particular form of historical erasure...🤔
My current project on the My Lai Massacre is heavily influenced by the polyphonic structure of 'Rashomon'/'In the Grove' - and it's quite reassuring to find that contemporaries themselves drew that comparison. This commentary is from December 1969, just after the story first broke:
September 22, 2025 at 11:18 AM
My current project on the My Lai Massacre is heavily influenced by the polyphonic structure of 'Rashomon'/'In the Grove' - and it's quite reassuring to find that contemporaries themselves drew that comparison. This commentary is from December 1969, just after the story first broke:
Not really a fan of Chomsky, but he was quite perceptive and clearly ahead of his time when he denounced the use of 'remote-controlled unmanned aircraft' in 1970, during the Vietnam War...
September 22, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Not really a fan of Chomsky, but he was quite perceptive and clearly ahead of his time when he denounced the use of 'remote-controlled unmanned aircraft' in 1970, during the Vietnam War...
As a historian, writing about the past - no matter how violent or horrific - increasingly feels like escapism...
September 18, 2025 at 8:09 AM
As a historian, writing about the past - no matter how violent or horrific - increasingly feels like escapism...
My approach to research these days is to read absolutely everything I can put my hands on that will help me get the 'feel' of an event or time-period right.
Next up is Jean Larteguy's (author of 'The Centurions') fictionalised account of the disappearance of Sean Flynn in Cambodia in 1970...
Next up is Jean Larteguy's (author of 'The Centurions') fictionalised account of the disappearance of Sean Flynn in Cambodia in 1970...
September 13, 2025 at 8:31 AM
My approach to research these days is to read absolutely everything I can put my hands on that will help me get the 'feel' of an event or time-period right.
Next up is Jean Larteguy's (author of 'The Centurions') fictionalised account of the disappearance of Sean Flynn in Cambodia in 1970...
Next up is Jean Larteguy's (author of 'The Centurions') fictionalised account of the disappearance of Sean Flynn in Cambodia in 1970...
I'm listening to the Lewellen recording of the pilot communication at My Lai for the first time. In the background, you can hear the wop-wop-wop of the Huy choppers and follow the progress of the operation minute by minute.
Is there any other massacre in history that was audio-recorded live?
Is there any other massacre in history that was audio-recorded live?
September 12, 2025 at 8:59 AM
I'm listening to the Lewellen recording of the pilot communication at My Lai for the first time. In the background, you can hear the wop-wop-wop of the Huy choppers and follow the progress of the operation minute by minute.
Is there any other massacre in history that was audio-recorded live?
Is there any other massacre in history that was audio-recorded live?
What's the best audio-to-text converter?
September 10, 2025 at 7:34 AM
What's the best audio-to-text converter?
Question for the law peeps: is it a war crime, technically speaking, if there is no armed conflict?
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
JD Vance doesn’t ‘give a s***’ if you think Venezuela boat strike was a war crime
US military killed 11 people on a boat that Trump claims was operated by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua
www.independent.co.uk
September 7, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Question for the law peeps: is it a war crime, technically speaking, if there is no armed conflict?
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
What in the liberal exceptionalism is this?
September 6, 2025 at 2:28 PM
What in the liberal exceptionalism is this?