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Books : The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War |
List Price: $28.00Price: $17.98 You Save: $10.02 (36%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 355.02130973
EAN: 9780195173383
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
Sales Rank: 275628
Studio: Oxford University Press, USA
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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.
Average Rating: 
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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 doesn't attempt to lay blame.
The chapter on the neoconservative idealogy (Left,Right,Left)was very good. Some of the leaders were "devout Wilsonians, devoted to the proposition that American values are by definition universal values." That's an accurate assessment of exporting democracy.
"The conception of politics to which neoconservatives paid allegiance owed more to the ethos of the Left than the orthodoxes of the Right.On the Right they hoped to find the oppurtunity to create the alternative perception of reality necessary for fulfilling their radical aspirations." One of those aspirations was the global empire that we have now.
In analyzing the view of evangelical Christians on militarism he made this truthful observation on page 124-
"The relationship between Christianity and war has been a tangled one. Despite Christ's admonition to love one's neighbor and to turn the other cheek, Christians historically have slaughtered their fellow ... Read More
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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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One of my favorite college texts. I was assigned this book for a course on National Security. My only issue with this book is that it seems to have been written in pieces. The first two chapters were very academic and I had to look up a LOT of words in the dictionary! The rest of the book (6 chapters, I think) was much easier. I liked the chapters on how Evangelicals and Hollywood effected militarization. Also, politicians are always saying they support the troops but don't enlist or let their children enlist.
Unfortunately, Bacevich's son died in combat recently.
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