For anyone who ever wondered what New York Times war correspondents read in their spare time, Rod Nordland at the Times‘s Baghdad Bureau blog provides some answers today. Apparently, Campbell Robertson is “reading Herodotus’ Histories avidly,” Nordland reports, while “for lighter reading, Campbell has been bowled over by the Russian writer Isaac Babel’s Red Cavalry stories.” Alissa Rubin has “been reading The Iliad.” “Dour Russian authors seem uncommonly popular among the crew,” and
Several of them are reading Dexter Filkins’ The Forever War, not so much because they know him from his years here for the Times, but, as reporter Muhammed Hussein put it, because it’s also about another war they don’t know so well, Afghanistan.
UPDATE: Also, have a look at a popular email forward among Iraqis– subject line: “Obama and Bush are cousins.” (Not yet on snopes).
Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.