Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 355.02130973
EAN: 9780195173383
Edition: 1
ISBN: 0195173384
Label: Oxford University Press, USA
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: April 01, 2005
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Studio: Oxford University Press, USA
Alternate Versions: Click to Display
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Editorial Review:Product Description:In this provocative new book, Andrew Bacevich warns of a dangerous dual obsession that has taken hold of Americans, conservatives and liberals alike. It is a marriage of militarism and utopian ideology--of unprecedented military might wed to a blind faith in the universality of American values.
This perilous union, Bacevich argues, commits Americans to a futile enterprise, turning the US into a crusader state with a self-proclaimed mission of driving history to its final destination: the world-wide embrace of the American way of life. This mindset invites endless war and the ever-deepening militarization of US policy. It promises not to perfect but to pervert American ideals and to accelerate the hollowing out of American democracy. As it alienates others, it will leave the United States increasingly isolated. It will end in bankruptcy, moral as well as economic, and in abject failure.
The New American Militarism examines the origins and implications of this misguided enterprise. The author shows how American militarism emerged as a reaction to the Vietnam War. Various groups in American society--soldiers, politicians on the make, intellectuals, strategists, Christian evangelicals, even purveyors of pop culture--came to see the revival of military power and the celebration of military values as the antidote to all the ills besetting the country as a consequence of Vietnam and the 1960s. The upshot, acutely evident in the aftermath of 9/11, has been a revival of vast ambitions and certainty, this time married to a pronounced affinity for the sword.
Bacevich urges us to restore a sense of realism and a sense of proportion to US policy. He proposes, in short, to bring American purposes and American methods--especially with regard to the role of the military--back into harmony with the nation's founding ideals.
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For a foreigner (Colombian), who went to engineering school and lived in the US for five years, enjoying american life style and many personal friendships, the book is well intentioned. Basically, there never will be "victory" for the US in Irak, but the entrenched garrison within the green zone will permit continuity of the exploitation of Irak's natural resource, oil, on a compulsary basis. Changing oil for blood is a sad fact, and the ratio of american casualties (a few thousand), to civil iraqui ...
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"The New American Militarism-How Americans Are Seduced by War" is an analysis of the subject from multiple viewpoints. Andrew Bacevich examines American militarism from the point of: politicians, the military, evangelical Christians, and society in general.
In the Preface the author is quite candid and humble about himself, his idealogy, and some of the experiences that helped form his positions.
"Some will misread this as cynicism. It is instead the absence of illusion."
He ...
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Andrew Bacevich as a graduate of West Point, Vietnam veteran, and Army Colonel knows what he is talking about when he calmly but with piercing clarity lays out the dangers in America's preoccupation with military power. He writes with great understanding of the military and explains why we are placing too much emphasis on war, soldiers, and military solutions.
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I was mesmerized listening to the author as he was interviewed on PBS with Bill Moyers; I was even more taken by his eloquence and sholarship which plainly expresses his views about our obsession with the military and how to balance our concerns for our protection with our civilian responsibility. He offers 10 clear and excellent suggestions, and note upon note about his resources. His is a historical and personal view.
I recommend it to all.
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The author is a Vietnam vet and admits to be a conservative and on the right and he fairly critisizes past Presidential offices and describes why America is on the warpath from past trends and decisions.
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