The Use and Legacy of Landmines in the Civil War with Ken Rutherford
I am very happy to welcome Dr. Kenneth Rutherford to The Rogue Historian! Ken is a Professor of political science at James Madison University. He has published five books, including America’s Buried History: Landmines in the Civil War (Savas Beatie, 2020). He was an agricultural extension agent as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mauritania, conducted refugee food and shelter operations for UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Senegal, was credit union training officer in Kenya and Somalia, and is a recipient of a U.S. State Department Fulbright Fellowship to Jordan, where he was appointed to the faculty of the University of Jordan. He is included among the "one hundred most influential people in armed violence reduction" by the London-based organization Action on Armed Violence. He holds a Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown University, and B.A. and MBA degrees from the University of Colorado, where he was inducted into its Hall for Distinguished alumni.
Ken’s research on the use and legacy of landmines in the Civil War begins in Somalia…with a very personal story you can read HERE. From the cite… “Rutherford co-founded Landmine Survivors Network in 1995, which later became Survivor Corps. He accompanied Princess Diana on her last humanitarian mission to visit landmine survivors in Bosnia-Herzegovina in August 1997, only three weeks before her death. Rutherford was a prominent leader in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, resulting in the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which won the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.”
His passion for research on this deadly anti-personnel weapon culminated in his most recent book, which we discuss:
Ken and Princess Diana in 1997
Ken’s personal story and how he arrived at the subject for this book
Technology out of necessity - Confederates’ attempt to offset the disadvantages in the war
Soldiers’ impressions of mines as weapons of cowardice
Landmines’ effectiveness as psychological weapons
The evolution of mine technology over the course of the war
The use of prisoners of war in mine clearing
The Confederate debate over the ethics of landmines
Landmines in WWI and WWII - the legacy of the Civil War
The current international campaign to ban landmines worldwide
How, if you are so inclined, you can get involved in this very important cause
Have a listen…
Those who are interested in supporting the campaign to ban landmines should check out Human Rights Watch and the Landmine Survivors Network. And by all means grab a copy of the book - we can for sure discuss further on all the usual social suspects. AND…don’t forget to subscribe to The Rogue Historian Podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite app so you never ever ever ever miss a show. That would be dumb.
And check out Ken’s other books…
Humanitarianism Under Fire: The US and UN Intervention in Somalia
Disarming States: The International Movement to Ban Landmines
Landmines and Human Security: International Politics and War’s Hidden Legacy (editor)
With compliments,
Keith