Author Archives: Joel D. Hirst

About Joel D. Hirst

Joel D. Hirst is a novelist and a playwright. His most recently released work is "The Unraveling" -- a novel about how it all came apart. He has also written "An Excess of Nationalism", a novel about Soviet Armenia. "Dreams of the Defeated: A Play in Two Acts" is about a political prisoner in a dystopian regime. And "I, Charles, From the Camps" is the story of a young man from the African camps. "Lords of Misrule" is the an epic tale about the making and unmaking of a jihadist in the Sahara. Finally, Hirst has re-published his "San Porfirio" series into one volume "The Epic Tale of Revolutionary Venezuela", about the rise and fall of socialist Venezuela (with magic).

Una Épica Sobre La Venezuela Chavista – Mi Novela Sobre #Venezuela

Posted on May 5, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

Ya que Venezuela esta otra ves en las noticias, un pueblo que aun despues de 25 años niega su esclavitud, les recomiendo mi novela. Sobre unos presos politicos; unos estudiantes luchadores – y un tirano. Dos novelas en una; la … Continue reading →

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Gonzalez al Gobierno, Machado al poder – #Venezuela

Posted on May 4, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst
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Moves and Countermoves

Posted on May 2, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

It’s hard not to notice the difference between the emotional rallies of Maria Corina Machado (MCM), Venezuela’s opposition leader and the dictator Maduro’s forced, loveless, joyless meetings. Size: people always measure size and the Venezuelan opposition have been comparing size … Continue reading →

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The Democratization of Crappy Stuff

Posted on April 21, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

So, fun fact, Amazon blocked this book review from their site. Then they sent me a nasty email with a ‘warning’ not to do it again. Now, I’m not a polemicist, it’s not really my style. So, I re-read this … Continue reading →

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Geography Matters

Posted on April 19, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

Geography matters. That’s pretty much the whole point of Robert D. Kaplan’s book “The Revenge of Geography”. Not in a deterministic way — there’s still room for human action (agency he calls it); we still define the future. But the … Continue reading →

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The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Posted on April 14, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

We love our dogs because they were never expelled from paradise, like we were. They are our only true lasting final link to perfection and to our role as was imagined by the creator (only people who have owned a … Continue reading →

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Mali’s Descent into Darkness

Posted on April 12, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

I write this because my Malian friends can’t. They probably can’t event tweet it or FB it. Yesterday the Malian junta banned political reporting and commentary. This, after last week banning political activities by parties or organized civil society. They … Continue reading →

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To Talk of Many Things… (Vol. #17 – AI and Literature)

Posted on April 7, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

The other day I decided to see how easy it would be to translate my Armenia novel “An Excess of Nationalism” into Spanish. There is a huge community of Argentine/Armenians I want to target. I found a new free AI, … Continue reading →

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Was It A Morning Like This?

Posted on March 31, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

There is one place that is central to our human story: Jerusalem. In about 2000 BC, Abram (to become Abraham) was instructed by God to leave Ur (south-east Iraq today) and go to the promised land, the holy land. He … Continue reading →

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What ISIS Is And What They Want

Posted on March 24, 2024 by Joel D. Hirst

Given the horrific ISIS attacks in Moscow (and my heart goes out to the victims and their families), I wanted to re-up this piece I wrote for posterity on where ISIS came from.

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