Ashley Jackson

It’s important to have fierce role models in the academic wilderness. And no one is fiercer than the Notorious Nancy Hatch Dupree. So sharp, so much fun to read, so much love and respect for her subject and for Afghanistan. This is one of my favorites: http://www.afghandata.org:8080/xmlui/handle/azu/3092 …

NHD also helped establish @ackuafghanistan -- which is an absolute gift to scholars I spent many hours (procrastinating?) trawling through the catalog. Many vital docs, primary sources I couldn’t find or didn’t even know existed are opensource here http://acku.edu.af 

I used negotiation theory to describe how Talibs and civilians bargain with each other. I built a framework from scratch, so it’s a bit of a patchwork quilt of behavioral theory -- snippets from Ury, Lewiski, Fisher, etc. But this was monumental: https://courses.washington.edu/pbafhall/514/514%20Readings/Malhotra%20&%20Bazerman%202008.pdf …

In a world full of quantitative work on civil wars, qualitative work can feel passé. During times of doubt (usually at academic confs), @stephenwalt reassured me that I was on the right path. Also one of the best academic burns I’ve ever read... https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/files/publication/waltvol23no4.pdf …

The point of my PhD is meant to be that civilians – underestimated, ignored as they are – shape the conduct and outcome of civil wars. The people I talked to obviously schooled me more than any book so when stuck, I went back to their voices. But…

I also turned to civilian accounts of other wars (who, again, taught more than much else of what I read). This is the best books about war that I have ever, will ever read https://bookdepository.com/Woman-Berlin-Anonymous/9781844087976 … Also on Kindle (But trust me, you’ll want to skip Anthony Beevor’s introduction.)