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About This Author

Elaine Scarry

Elaine Scarry, Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University, is author most recently of Thinking in an Emergency.

Content From This Author

Global Justice, War & Security

The Racist Foundation of Nuclear Architecture

On the seventy-fifth anniversary of Hiroshima, it is increasingly clear that white supremacy sustains the U.S. nuclear arsenal, while the country's approach to nuclear weapons reinforces racism at home. 

Elaine Scarry

War & Security

Sleeping Through the Alarm

With virtually no democratic oversight and over 6,500 missiles in the United States alone, the use of nuclear weapons is almost inevitable. So why is it so hard to think about nuclear war?

Elaine Scarry, Rachel Ablow

Podcast, War & Security

On the Presidential First Use of Nuclear Weapons

What differentiates the crimes of a terrorist, hacker, or non-state actor from those of a president who launches a nuclear weapon?

Elaine Scarry, Jonathan King, Bruce Ackerman, Kennette Benedict, Bruce Blair, Sissela Bok, Rosa Brooks, John Burroughs, Hugh Gusterson, Edward Markey, Jim McGovern, Zia Mian, William Perry

Politics, War & Security

The Contradiction of Nuclear Democracy

To be a nuclear-armed state is to invest the executive with dictatorial powers over immeasurable destructive capacity.

Elaine Scarry, Simon Waxman

Transparent Citizens, Invisible Government

President George W. Bush signs the USA Patriot Act into law, October 26, 2001 (White

Elaine Scarry

Arts in Society

Poetry Changed the World

What is the ethical power of literature?

Elaine Scarry

Politics, War & Security

Extreme Injury

Once eight countries have nuclear weapons, people everywhere on earth potentially ‘have’ them.

Elaine Scarry

Law & Justice, Politics

The Obligation to Prosecute

Why we must prosecute the Bush administration officials who sanctioned torture.

Elaine Scarry

Politics, War & Security

Presidential Crimes

We have at the present time two government leaders, a president and a vice president, who

Elaine Scarry

Global Justice, Law & Justice

Rules of Engagement

Why military honor matters.

Elaine Scarry

Law & Justice, Politics

Resolving to Resist

Local governments are refusing to comply with the Patriot Act.

Elaine Scarry

Forum

Citizenship in Emergency

Can democracy protect us against terrorism?

Elaine Scarry

       

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