What I Was.

I was a journalist for 20 years in Boston, then moved to Los Angeles in 1985 to try my hand at writing TV and movie scripts, while supporting myself as a typesetter. Just as I was giving up on scriptwriting, typesetting morphed into computer graphics and — in lock-step with the advancing technology — I became a graphic artist. You can see my graphics-work site at: Will Soper.net

Now I’ve embarked on yet another career — that of book author. (Read on.)

What I Have Become.

In 2007 I began researching the 1854 razing of the Central American port of Greytown by the US Navy. This effort first resulted in the May 2017 publication of an article in American Nineteenth Century History, a peer-reviewed British journal. (See link to article abstract below, along with links to subsequent publications.)

The port was destroyed, the official US history records, “to avenge an insult to the American Minister to Nicaragua.” But two weeks after the razing, the New York Tribune captured the essence of the twin commercial intrigues that really doomed the port: “[A US-owned steamboat] company [had] long desired to get rid of the town, which . . . was a hindrance to their supremacy. [Greytown] also stood in the way of a great project for the establishment of a colony . . . which is entertained by several [US] speculators.” In 1916, American historian William Scroggs wrote: “It was to the interest of that [steamboat] corporation that Greytown be wiped off the map, and it had succeeded in inveigling the government into doing this bit of dirty work.”

When an American sued for his losses in the razing he lost. This resulted in a case law, called Durand v. Hollins, cited for at least the last 80 years to justify military interventions undertaken without the congressional approval required by a strict interpretation of the Constitution.

In 2018 the online op-ed site History News Network published my 1,100-word piece summarizing my research and describing how I approached the federal agency responsible for perpetuating the false, insult-avenging narrative of why Greytown was destroyed. (See link below.)

(To see a one-page 2019 PDF of thumbnail testimonials to my 2017 journal article and my 2018 op-ed, click here: Fellow Authors’ Testimonials.

In early 2022, I submitted a book proposal to McFarland Publishing, and they accepted it. They published the book, “Greytown is no more!” on 27 January 2023.

Click here to see Amazon’s order page: “Greytown is no more!”.
And to see my 38-minute video based on the book’s central theme, click here:
“Greytown is no more!” The Video.

For an excellent review (from January 2024) in the Journal of National Security Law & Policy,
click here: "Greytown, Great Power Politics, and History’s Grey Areas".
and for my response, click here: "Will Soper Responds . . . ."

In June of 2024 I applied for membership in the National Coalition of Independent Scholars, an affiliate of the American Historical Association. I was accepted as a full member in July.

Where To Find Me?