What Gen. Hertling Learned Watching the Israeli Army
Plus: The Feminist Horror of Lisa Tuttle
Recently in The Bulwark:
CHARLIE SYKES: Chaos. Utter Chaos.
JVL: The MAGA Speaker 🔐
THE SECRET POD 🎧: Speaker Ships 🔐
SONNY BUNCH: The Best Books About Movies, Ranked (Kinda) and ‘The Continental’ Review
ATMA 🎧: The Lost Artistry of the Short Film 🔐
You can support The Bulwark by subscribing to Bulwark+ or just by sharing this newsletter with someone you think would value it.
GEN. MARK HERTLING: What I Learned Watching the Israeli Army.
BY ALL EXPECTATIONS, THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT is poised to order a ground invasion of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. After the shocking and blood-curdling attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians on October 7, there is ample speculation about what the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) might do to, in, and about Hamas and Gaza. The IDF is one of the world’s most respected militaries. Through my career as a U.S. Army officer, I came to understand that it’s also commonly misunderstood.
My first encounter with the IDF was just on paper. As a recently promoted Army major in 1987, I was selected to attend a year-long course in operational planning at the School of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. One requirement of the course was to write two monographs for publication. As a career armor officer, I wanted to analyze some historical tank campaign. All the tank battles of World War II, the 1967 Six Day War, and the 1973 Yom Kippur War seemed like promising choices—until my adviser suggested something else. “You want something more relevant, something that points to the future of armored warfare,” he advised. “How about the more recent ’82 campaign, Operation Peace for Galilee?”
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
Did you know? Bulwark+ members can listen to an ad-free version of these podcasts on the player of their choice.
Learn more at Bulwark+ Podcast FAQ.
BILL RYAN: The Feminist Horror of Lisa Tuttle.
I BELIEVE THE FIRST TIME I became aware of Lisa Tuttle was around 1990, after Stephen Jones and Kim Newman’s indispensable collection of short essays Horror: 100 Best Books was republished in the United States (its sequel, Horror: Another 100 Best Books is equally worth your time). In that book, the essays are written by one hundred different horror writers, each choosing their favorite horror, or horror-adjacent, book. The late Robert Holdstock chose Tuttle’s story collection A Nest of Nightmares, which at that time would have been a fairly new book (it was published in 1986).
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Your Friday the 13th Funny… Children’s books lend themselves to rapping.
Federal Prison Censors Reason Issue About… How Federal Prison Employed Serial Rapists.
She’s not not running… Abigail Spanberger on her TBD gubernatorial bid.
Meanwhile in the House / George Santosland… The circuses continue. A friend quips": “You can tell the writers are running out of ideas when they throw a baby into the cast.” And indeed, a baby was involved.
…and in Ohio… This former legislator thinks the war in Israel is neat because it will bring about the rapture.
DeSantis jab at Trump over Israel… may be a hard sell to Florida Jewish Republicans.
The Story of an Israeli at War… John Podhoretz and the story of Alon.
“Someone should give me a goddamn medal….” a new excerpt from Ryan Reilly’s excellent Sedition Hunters in Politico Mag.
“Speaker designate” Jim Jordan… How long does that title last?
Psyche! The new NASA mission is headed to a metal world.
Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message
Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.