I’m an educator, researcher, writer, web developer, and doctoral candidate in history at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. I focus in modern American and Italian history with specific interests in the Anglo-American invasion and occupation of Iraq and the social and cultural history of the Italian south. I have an MA in linguistics, an MA in English Studies, as well as focused training in oral history and public history. I’m a recipient of the Fulbright “Con il sud” grant, which I used to launch an onging project to document an endangered Italian language spoken in Grumento Nova, Italy. Over all I’m interested in using digital tools to create resources for the public.
Highlights
Archive Iraq
I’m the Director of Archives and a cofounder of Archive Iraq, an open access, digital collection of primary and secondary source materials of Iraqi history for any and all who care to learn. This project is forthcoming and will be released on the 20th anniversary of the Anglo-American invasion of 2003.
Memoria e lingua grumentina
With the support of the Fulbright “Con il sud” grant, I have begun documenting the language spoken in the Italian village of Grumento Nova (called Saponarese) and building a website with a database to preserve a record of the language and create resources for the community. Approaching this project from a public history perspective, I’m developing a UI (user interface) that makes the database more accessible and interactive for multiple publics, namely the community of Grumento Nova and professional linguists.
The Sacking of Fallujah
I am the main author of The Sacking of Fallujah (2019). This book is the first comprehensive study of the three sieges of Fallujah, Iraq—two led by the United States in 2004 and one led by Iraq to defeat ISIS in 2016. Unlike dominant military accounts that focus on American soldiers and U.S. leaders and perpetuate the myth that the United States “liberated” the city, this book argues that Fallujah was destroyed by coalition forces, leaving public health crises, political destabilization, and mass civilian casualties in their wake. This meticulously researched account cuts through the propaganda to uncover the lived experiences of Fallujans under siege and occupation, and contextualizes these events within a broader history of U.S. policy in the Middle East. Relying on testimony from Iraqi civilians, the work of independent journalists, and documentation from human rights organizations, Ross Caputi, Richard Hil, and Donna Mulhearn place the experiences of Fallujah’s residents at the center of this city’s recent history.
Fear Not the Path of Truth
Fear Not the Path of Truth: a veteran’s journey after Fallujah (2014) is an independent, investigative documentary that looks at the U.S.-led sieges of Fallujah in 2004 and their human consequences. Ross Caputi, a U.S. Marine veteran of the second siege, interviews residents and experts to learn the truth about the war crimes he participated in and the public health crisis the operation caused for Fallujah’s residents. This film won the Changemaker Award at the 2015 Traverse City Film Festival.