OLIVER STONE has won Oscars for directing Born On The Fourth Of July” and Platoon”, and for writing Midnight Express”. He was nominated for director (JFK) and co-writer (Nixon). He’s also received three Golden Globes for directing ( Platoon”, Born On The Fourth Of July” and JFK”), one for writing ( Midnight Express”). He is director for the forthcoming Showtime 10-hour series Forgotten History of the United States.”Stone wrote a novel, published in 1997 by St. Martin’s Press, entitled A Child’s Night Dream”, based on Stone’s experiences as a young man. He is a contributor of some 200 pages of essays on movies, culture, politics and history to the book Oliver Stone’s USA”, edited by Robert Brent Toplin and published by the University Press of Kansas (2000). Stone wrote the afterword for a book of scholarly essays analyzing his film Alexander” called Oliver Stone’s Alexander: Film, History, and Cultural Studies” (2009).Stone was born September 15, 1946 in New York, New York. Prior to his film career, Stone worked as a schoolteacher in Vietnam, a Merchant Marine sailor, taxi driver, messenger, production assistant, and sales representative. He served in the U.S. Army Infantry in Vietnam in 1967-68. He was wounded twice and decorated with the Bronze Star for Valor. After returning from Vietnam, he completed his undergraduate studies at New York University Film School in 1971.*TARIQ ALI is a writer and filmmaker. He has written more than two dozen books on world history and politics, and seven novels (translated into over a dozen languages) as well as scripts for the stage and screen. He is an editor of New Left Review and lives in London. His website is http://tariqali.org/.

“Oliver Stone and Tariq Ali, two of our most provocative and radical voices, engage in a thought-provoking conversation about history—ripping apart entrenched establishment narratives which have suppressed thealternative visions we desperately need for our radical social movements and a true participatory democracy.”—Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher, the Nation“Reading On History is like watching a fascinating and mesmerizing film . . . a must read if you want to understand the world today.”—Michael Ratner, president, Center for Constitutional Rights“Oliver Stone asks smart questions about the rise and fall of the United States and its empire in the twentieth century, and Tariq Ali provides smart answers. The result is a provocative book that is sure toincite controversy and stimulate debate.”—Jon Wiener, professor of history at the University of California at Irvine

• Section 1World War IRussian RevolutionThe WobbliesU.S. enters WWIWilson and the Treaty of VersaillesEconomics of WWIFrench RevolutionDefeat of the Russian RevolutionKing Leopold and the Belgium CongoBritish EmpireWilson sends troops to RussiaCauses of WWIIAtlantic CharterThe Japanese and Pearl HarborOil Embargo against the Japanese and GermansGerman thoughts on the U.S.Section 2U.S. need for raw materials post-WWIISaudi royal family ties to U.S.IndiaMacArthur ConstitutionU.S. as imperial powerU.S. inherits Britain's colonial legacySlaveryDr. LiyingstonSir Richard BurtonRussian Revolution ends British EmpireRooseveltRussians agree to HiroshimaAnti-communism in the U.S.American Labor MovementWallace vs TrumanThe Cold WarKorealranVietnamSection 3U,S. involvement in lndonesiaNehru in lndiaPakistanGreek Civil WarSoviet expansion post WWIICzarist empireCuba and the Soviet UnionSoviet empire and economic controlMarshall Plan and American imperialismBerlinStalin and Tito from YugoslaviaSection 4Nuelear bomb as principle weaponChina, India, Pakistan, Israel, South AfricaApartheid ends nuclear system in South AfricaConfessional stateslranian nuclearIraq and the United StatesMuslim empire 7th and 8th centuries1099 the Crusadesottoman empirelslam and tradeEgyptAllah and MohammedNasserAmerican and British opposition to NasserTony BlairBritish EmpireTriumph of tIe VietnameseMy Lai massacreSection 5Pax AmericanaVenezuela and the IMFIncrease ofAmerican power and influenceConfessional states lsrael and PakistanThomas Freeman and McDonald DouglassEconomics and MarxismCapitalismBourgeois civilizationEco-Climate issuesSection 6War on TerrorTerrorismIraq WarMadeline AlbrightU.S. can't go into lranDoctrine of pre-emptive warAfghanistan nowAnother Vietnam?Human Rights as a reason to interveneViolence and torture as acceptableMedia and profitLatin America and ChavezPaid Army, mercenariesCollective punishmentHistory has become subversiveOrigins of American EmpireSalem witch trials, Monroe DoctrineThe end of History?George MccovernObamaNixon and ChinaKipling poemJoseph ConradAl-Nawab poem "On the Bird"