David Suisman
@dsuisman.bsky.social
Author of INSTRUMENT OF WAR: MUSIC AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA'S SOLDIERS (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2024) and SELLING SOUNDS: THE COMMERCIAL REVOLUTION IN AMERICAN MUSIC (Harvard Univ. Press, 2009). History professor. Occasional WFMU DJ. davidsuisman.net
Reposted by David Suisman
NYC Comptroller Brad Lander: "I don't think the line for the [Democratic] party right now is between progressives and moderates; I think it's between fighters and folders."
June 28, 2025 at 1:08 AM
NYC Comptroller Brad Lander: "I don't think the line for the [Democratic] party right now is between progressives and moderates; I think it's between fighters and folders."
Best characterization ever of social media? "Participatory disinfotainment" (from Richard Seymour's book Disaster Nationalism)
June 28, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Best characterization ever of social media? "Participatory disinfotainment" (from Richard Seymour's book Disaster Nationalism)
Reposted by David Suisman
One block over from the White House: the aspirational security line setup
June 14, 2025 at 10:48 PM
One block over from the White House: the aspirational security line setup
Reposted by David Suisman
‘What sort of reconstruction, by now inevitably a radical one, of actually existing liberal democracy would be required to put an end to the oligarchies it has spawned?’
Perry Anderson on regime change in the West: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Perry Anderson on regime change in the West: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Perry Anderson · Regime Change in the West?
Where amid this turmoil does neoliberalism stand? In emergency conditions it has been forced to take measures –...
www.lrb.co.uk
April 17, 2025 at 6:50 PM
‘What sort of reconstruction, by now inevitably a radical one, of actually existing liberal democracy would be required to put an end to the oligarchies it has spawned?’
Perry Anderson on regime change in the West: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Perry Anderson on regime change in the West: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
I had a great conversation with Mack Hagood about music in the lives of American soldiers for his indispensable podcast Phantom Power. phantompod.org/david-suisma...
Music: An Instrument of War
Award-winning historian David Suisman explores music as a martial technology, used for morale, discipline, psychological warfare, and torture.
phantompod.org
March 28, 2025 at 2:24 PM
I had a great conversation with Mack Hagood about music in the lives of American soldiers for his indispensable podcast Phantom Power. phantompod.org/david-suisma...
Reposted by David Suisman
Jasmine Crockett speaks for me (and multitudes, and oy, WATCH THE VIDEO!)
February 26, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Jasmine Crockett speaks for me (and multitudes, and oy, WATCH THE VIDEO!)
If you need a break from the headlines, I'll be giving a talk on music and soldiers to the University of Cambridge's Centre for Geopolitics next Monday, 12pm ET, online and free. You can register here. www.cfg.polis.cam.ac.uk/events/5644-2/
Instrument of war: Music and the making of America’s soldiers - Centre for Geopolitics
www.cfg.polis.cam.ac.uk
February 26, 2025 at 11:59 AM
If you need a break from the headlines, I'll be giving a talk on music and soldiers to the University of Cambridge's Centre for Geopolitics next Monday, 12pm ET, online and free. You can register here. www.cfg.polis.cam.ac.uk/events/5644-2/
Here’s a short piece I wrote about music & the Iraq War, for the website Good Authority. It's an annotated playlist of 7 remarkable recordings to help understand that war, from hip hop to classical to experimental collage. Guaranteed to be new to most people!
goodauthority.org/news/good-pl...
goodauthority.org/news/good-pl...
It's been 15 years since the end of the Iraq War.
For U.S. soldiers, the Iraq War ended 15 years ago. This playlist shares some of the emotions and memories of soldiers and civilians.
goodauthority.org
February 21, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Here’s a short piece I wrote about music & the Iraq War, for the website Good Authority. It's an annotated playlist of 7 remarkable recordings to help understand that war, from hip hop to classical to experimental collage. Guaranteed to be new to most people!
goodauthority.org/news/good-pl...
goodauthority.org/news/good-pl...
Reposted by David Suisman
Hilarious and brilliant protest radio this morning: @wfmu.bsky.social's Joe Belock let the Band's "Cripple Creek" skip on the line "To the Gulf of Mexico" . . . for four minutes.
February 17, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Hilarious and brilliant protest radio this morning: @wfmu.bsky.social's Joe Belock let the Band's "Cripple Creek" skip on the line "To the Gulf of Mexico" . . . for four minutes.
Gig alert. I’ll be talking about my new book Instrument of War in a webinar hosted by the Centre for Geopolitics at the University of Cambridge on Mar 3. The event will be on Zoom and open to the public. Registration info in the comments below. www.cfg.polis.cam.ac.uk/events/5644-2/
Instrument of War: Music and the Making of America’s Soldiers - Centre for Geopolitics
www.cfg.polis.cam.ac.uk
February 4, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Gig alert. I’ll be talking about my new book Instrument of War in a webinar hosted by the Centre for Geopolitics at the University of Cambridge on Mar 3. The event will be on Zoom and open to the public. Registration info in the comments below. www.cfg.polis.cam.ac.uk/events/5644-2/
Reposted by David Suisman
A blast from the past (2023)
January 31, 2025 at 12:17 AM
A blast from the past (2023)
Reposted by David Suisman
“I will not give into the lies. I will not give into the fear.”
Jim Acosta announces on air that he's leaving CNN and says, "it is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant ... don't give in to the lies."
January 28, 2025 at 5:34 PM
“I will not give into the lies. I will not give into the fear.”
Thanks, @adamrothman.bksy.social for the plugs--not just the book but my website for the book too
I want to put in a plug for David Suisman's recent book, Instrument of War: Music and the Making of America’s Soldiers 🗃 1/3
press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
Instrument of War
An original history of music in the lives of American soldiers. Since the Civil War, music has coursed through the United States military. Soldiers have sung while marching, listened to phonographs ...
press.uchicago.edu
January 28, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Thanks, @adamrothman.bksy.social for the plugs--not just the book but my website for the book too
DC-area folks: on Feb 7, I will be in convo with Jeremy Braddock about my new book Instrument of War and his brilliant new book about the Firesign Theatre at People’s Books in Takoma Park. I would love to see you there!
peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/firesi...
peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/firesi...
Author Talk: “Firesign” and “Instrument of War”
About Firesign: A cultural clearinghouse of the American 1960s and ’70s told through the story of the period’s most important forgotten comedy group. This expansive book reclaims the Fi…
peoplesbooktakoma.com
January 17, 2025 at 2:18 PM
DC-area folks: on Feb 7, I will be in convo with Jeremy Braddock about my new book Instrument of War and his brilliant new book about the Firesign Theatre at People’s Books in Takoma Park. I would love to see you there!
peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/firesi...
peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/firesi...
I'm delighted that the History News Network has just published an excerpt from my book Instrument of War. It's from the chapter on the war in Vietnam, "Demythologizing the Rock-and-Roll War." www.hnn.us/article/not-...
The Soundtrack to Vietnam War History Isn’t Quite Historically Accurate
Why rock overtook every other genre to define our understanding of America at war.
www.hnn.us
December 6, 2024 at 6:23 PM
I'm delighted that the History News Network has just published an excerpt from my book Instrument of War. It's from the chapter on the war in Vietnam, "Demythologizing the Rock-and-Roll War." www.hnn.us/article/not-...