I think that, in almost all human beings, there is buried a profound tribal instinct that makes us very susceptible to being aroused to patriotic fervour. – Adam Hochschild
No international court can ever substitute for a working national justice system. Or for a society at peace. – Adam Hochschild
Someday, I have no doubt, the dead from today’s wars will be seen with a similar sense of sorrow at needless loss and folly as those millions of men who lie in the cemeteries of France and Belgium – and tens of millions of Americans will feel a similar revulsion for the politicians and generals who were so spendthrift with others’ lives. – Adam Hochschild
For the better part of two centuries, outsiders have been offering explanations that range from racist to learned-sounding – the supposed inferiority of blacks, the heritage of slavery, overpopulation – for why Haiti remains the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. – Adam Hochschild
As the First World War made painfully clear, when politicians and generals lead nations into war, they almost invariably assume swift victory, and have a remarkably enduring tendency not to foresee problems that, in hindsight, seem obvious. – Adam Hochschild
I think the tradition of well-written history hasn’t been squashed out of the academic world as much in Britain as it has in the United States. – Adam Hochschild
The first World War in so many ways shaped the 20th century and really remade our world for the worse. – Adam Hochschild