Public Issues Series: None of Us Were Like This Before with Joshua Philips

Award-winning, investigative reporter Joshua E. S. Phillips will be giving a free, public talk on Dec. 5, 7 p.m., Sonnentag Hall, located in the UW Center for Civic Engagement at the University of Wisconsin-Marathon County. The independent producer and journalist from New York City will be discussing his book “None of Us Were Like This Before”. Published in 2010, the book examines how U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan turned to torture, and the unrecognized toll it took on detainees and its perpetrators.

As a foreign correspondent, Phillips has covered stories about torture, war and peace resolutions, refugees, violent ethnic conflicts, labor struggles and trade policies in developing countries.

In 2010, Phillips won the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for the American Radio Works documentary “What Killed Sergeant Gray,” which profiled U.S. soldiers who were traumatized by abusing and torturing Iraqi detainees.

During his career, Phillips has reported from Southeast Asia, the Middle East and South Asia. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, Newsweek, Salon, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. His radio features have been broadcast on NPR, the BBC and Public Radio International.