Peter Dale Scott—Poetry and Writings
Simply calling Peter Dale Scott a poet would be vastly understating his accomplishments. Born in Montreal in 1929, over the course of the next eighty years he has also been an English professor at Berkeley, an anti-war protester during the Vietnam era, a Canadian diplomat and an investigative writer of political prose. Perhaps best known for his lengthy poem The Road to Jakarta, Scott has also written several other books of poetry, including his latest work, Mosaic Orpheus. Interestingly, he is also an avid translator of poetry; especially those of Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert, whose massive popularity boom in English-speaking countries can be accredited to Scott and his frequent co-translator Csezlaw Milosz. Passionately political, Scott is also known for his criticism of U.S. foreign policy and overseas involvement, and he has consequently devoted several decades to researching and writing investigative books that examine political cover-ups and covert government operations. These books, such as Deep Politics and the Death of JFK and Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies and CIA in Central America, focus heavily on global drug trafficking and the JFK assassination, a subject on which he is considered a foremost authority. More recently, Scott published the popular book The Road to 9/11: wealth, empire and the future of America.
- Peter Dale Scott: Brief biographical information on this influential writer.
- Critique of Scott's Deep Politics: A critical analysis of Scott’s infamous work that discusses the potential conspiracies surrounding the JFK assassination.
- Curriculum Vitae: Details Scott’s education, teaching history, fellowships and awards/honors.
- The Assassination of JFK: A Formal Debate: This transcript of a debate between Scott and Gerald Posner on the JFK assassination offers unique insight.
- "Earthway": One of Scott’s poems, published by Boston University’s AGNI magazine.
- Translation of "Pebble": This is Scott’s translation of Zbegniew Herbert’s famous poem “Pebble”. Following is a translation by Czeslaw Milosz for comparison.
- Peter Dale Scott's Politics Web Page: Scott’s own page dealing with his political prose on 9/11, war, Al Qaeda and more.
- Complete Bibliography: This extensive inventory of Scott’s work includes video and audio listings in addition to written publications.
- "The Real Grand Chessboard and the Profiteers of War": This article by Scott examines his position on the “truths” of 9/11.
- "Expanses of the Unspoken: An Interview with Peter Dale Scott": In this interview Scott discusses his translations of Herbert’s poems.
- Coming to Jakarta: Perhaps Scott’s most famous work, this book-length poem explores the 1965 crisis in Indonesia that lead the country to civil war. Read it in its entirety here.
- Review of the Road to 9/11: Literary review of Scott’s latest books The Road to 9/11: wealth, empire and the future of America.
- Five Poems: For an excellent introduction to Scott’s poetry, read these five poems published together at Jacket Magazine.
- Drugs, Oil and War: This book by Scott deals with US involvements in Afghanistan, Columbia and Indochina. This web page contains the preface and excerpts from the book, as well as literary reviews and additional information.
- Review of 9/11 and American Empire: Intellectuals Speak Out: Scott teamed up with theology professor David Ray Griffin to edit a collection of articles by fellow academics about deep politics in relation to 9/11, and a review of this work is offered here.
- "Minding the Darkness": An excerpt from Scott’s poem for the year 2000, including an introduction by the author.
- "The Art of Austerity": This essay about Zbigniew Herbert contains more examples of his poems translated by Scott.
- Testimony of Patrick Dale Scott: This transcript is of Scott’s testimony at a public hearing in 1994 concerning Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby and their respective assassinations.
- Criticism of Scott: Extensive compilation of critical and literary analysis excerpts on Scott’s work.
- "Peter Dale Scott: The Meeting of Poetry, Prose and Politics": This essay by Ron Dart examines the life of Scott and how it may have shaped his work and political ideals.
- Academic information on Cocaine Politics: Information on Scott’s book in which he investigated CIA involvement in Central America’s drug trade.
- "Billions: The Politics of Influence in The United States, China and Israel": This is another article written by Scott and Connie Bruck about the rich using media control to influence politics in their favor.
- "Oil and Islam. Will America Shift Away from Its Past Unilateralist Policies?": This article by Scott discusses the implications of President Obama’s Cairo speech about changing U.S. policies on involvement overseas.
- "Why the U.S. Must Withdraw From Iraq": In this criticism of former President Bush, Scott draws parallels between his actions in Iraq to the unnecessary U.S. involvement in Vietnam decades earlier.
- "Dying In": A beautiful poem by Scott, from Murmur of the Stars.
- "The Loon's Egg": Another poem from Murmur of the Stars.
- "The Possibility of a US Attack on Iran": Excerpts from a presentation Scott gave at The Vancouver 9/11 Truth Conference.
- "U.S. Attempts to Check Out Books--Permanently": Scott was a professor at Berkley, and here is a recent personal essay written by him for the California Alumni web site.
- "Magpiety": The poem “Magpiety” was written by Montgeran in 1958, and here it is translated by Scott.
- Deep Politics III: Scott’s latest book on the JFK assassination is featured here with commentary and links to excerpts.
