May 2009 – Invisible History Blog

West Hollywood, CA: Book Soup http://www.booksoup.com/author-events.asp?offset=30
Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould present and sign their new book, Invisible History: Afganistan’s Untold Story.

Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould, a husband and wife team, first went to Afghanistan in 1981 and have reported for “CBS News,” “Nightline,” and “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.” Their documentary “Between Three Worlds” was broadcast by PBS.

8818 Sunset Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069

For more information, please e-mail: tyson@booksoup.com or call:310.659.3684

Afghanistan: A Salon of Politics & Culture, Book Signing and Concert

May 15, 2009August 4, 2010

Friday, May 15th, 7:00 pm

Los Angeles, CA: Levantine Cultural Center

http://www.levantinecenter.org/cultures/central-asia/afghani/afghanistans-invisible-history-book-signing-and-concert-ariana-delawar
Join Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould for a book signing at the Levantine Center.

Evening sponsored by CODEPINK: Women for Peace.$10 at the door. For $20 you will receive an autographed copy of Invisible History. Free for members and students with I.D.

The evening includes a DVD presentation and discussion of the book, followed by Q/A and book signing. The authors will be introduced by Afghan-American lawyer/activist Mariam Atash Nawabi. The event also includes Afghani-American indie singer Ariana Delawari presenting some of her rock/folk repertoire.

5998 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035For more information, call 310.657.5511 or email jordane[at]levantinecenter[dot]org.

Interview on KPFK 90.7 Morning Show with Sonali Kolhatkar

May 15, 2009August 9, 2010

Listen to our interview on KPFK 90.7 Morning Show with Sonali Kolhatkar from May 15, 2009 Audio Stream | Podcast | Mp3 Download

Ford Hall Forum

May 7, 2009August 4, 2010

Ford Hall Forum

May 7th, 6:30 pm

The Ford Hall Forum presents Elizabeth Gould and Paul Fitzgerald to discuss their book, Invisible History.

Boston Public Library
Rabb Auditorium
700 Boylston Street
Boston, MA

Public Transportation (MBTA): Green Line to Copley or Orange Line to Back Bay
Parking: Darmouth Street Garage
For more info, contact Alex Minier, Executive Director at 617-557-2007 or info@fordhallforum.org

Asia Times BOOK REVIEW

May 2, 2009May 26, 2009

Behind the Afghan propaganda page page 1 of 2 pages
Invisible History: Afghanistan’s Untold Story by Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould

Reviewed by Anthony Fenton

Nearly 30 years after their first foray into the land-locked buffer state, married couple and journalist-historians Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould could not have chosen a more appropriate time to publish their comprehensive Invisible History: Afghanistan’s Untold Story.

Having taken a back seat to Iraq since the drumbeat for war began in the autumn of 2002, the ongoing escalation of the United States-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) counter-insurgency war and occupation have made “AfPak” the center of sustained US media attention for the first time since “shock and awe” temporarily drove the Taliban underground in October 2001.

A chronically disinformed US public should leap at the chance to familiarize themselves with an honest overview of their country’s historically scandalous involvement in the region.

Despite Afghanistan’s recent return to the spotlight, few among the public realize the full extent of the US’s historical meddling in Afghanistan. Sadly, many Americans will believe the version of events that were popularized by George Crile’s book-turned-Hollywood film, Charlie Wilson’s War: The Extraordinary Story of how the Wildest man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times (New York: Grove Press, 2003).

Crile’s account presents an ahistorical blend of fact and fantasy as it romanticizes the largest covert operation in US history during the US-Pakistan-Saudi Arabian-financed and armed proxy war against the Soviet Union from 1979-1989. It is this collective propaganda-imbued blindspot that Fitzgerald and Gould attempt to reveal and counter. As Gould stated in an interview with Asia Times Online, Charlie Wilson’s War “is a complete flip flop of the reality”.

As such, one of the concerns that Gould and Fitzgerald are seeking to address is the problem that “there are still people in administration positions, in journalistic positions, in academic positions who still believe the fundamentals of Charlie Wilson’s War”. As Fitzgerald added, “every line cook and bottle washer in and around Washington is now an expert on Afghanistan”, reflecting a popular discourse that is “far detached from reality”.