How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything
Tales from the Pentagon

Name: How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything
Brand: Simon & Schuster Audio
Availability: InStock
Rating: 3.77 (13 reviews)
Author: Rosa Brooks
ISBN: 9781508226819

Author: Rosa Brooks

Narrator: Gabra Zackman

Unabridged: 13 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Published: 08/09/2016

Categories: Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography, Military Nonfiction, Political Science, Intelligence & Espionage, International Relations

Synopsis

“A dynamic work of reportage” (The New York Times) written “with clarity and...wit” (The New York Times Book Review) about what happens when the ancient boundary between war and peace is erased.

Once, war was a temporary state of affairs. Today, America’s wars are everywhere and forever: our enemies change constantly and rarely wear uniforms, and virtually anything can become a weapon. As war expands, so does the role of the US military. Military personnel now analyze computer code, train Afghan judges, build Ebola isolation wards, eavesdrop on electronic communications, develop soap operas, and patrol for pirates. You name it, the military does it.

In this “ambitious and astute” (The Washington Post) work, Rosa Brooks “provides a masterful analysis” (San Francisco Chronicle) of this seismic shift in how America wages war from an unconventional perspective—that of a former top Pentagon official who is the daughter of two anti-war protesters and married to an Army Green Beret. By turns a memoir, a work of journalism, a scholarly exploration of history, anthropology, and law, How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything is an “illuminating” (The New York Times), “eloquent” (The Boston Globe), “courageous” (US News & World Report), and “essential” (The Dallas Morning News) examination of the role of the military today. Above all, it is a rallying cry, for Brooks issues an urgent warning: When the boundaries around war disappear, we undermine both America’s founding values and the international rules and organizations that keep our world from sliding towards chaos.

About Rosa Brooks

Rosa Brooks is a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, a columnist for Foreign Policy, and a law professor at Georgetown University. She previously worked at the Pentagon as Counselor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy; in 2011, she was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service. Brooks has also served as a senior advisor at the US Department of State, a consultant for Human Rights Watch, and a weekly opinion columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Her articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and dozens of other newspapers and magazines, and she is a frequent television guest, with appearances on the Charlie Rose Show, the Rachel Maddow Show, the Today show, Meet the Press, and Erin Burnett OutFront. Brooks lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband Joe, her daughters Anna and Clara, and a Brittany spaniel named Scout.

About Gabra Zackman

Gabra Zackman knows romance. Her clever and “thrilling romantic caper” (Library Journal) Bod Squad series was inspired by the more than one hundred romance and women’s fiction titles she has narrated for audio. She divides her time between her native New York City and Denver, Colorado.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Larry on September 17, 2016

"Rosa Brooks traces this seismic shift in how America wages war from an unconventional perspective—that of a former top Pentagon official who is the daughter of two anti-war protesters and a human rights activist married to an Army Green Beret. Her experiences lead her to an urgent warning: When the......more

Goodreads review by Murtaza on December 18, 2016

"War made the state and the state made war" is a common explanation of the formation of modern societies. But this quote doesn't belong solely to history. War is continuing to remake modern states in new ways. When combined with rapid technological change and globalization, war is transforming the U......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on March 05, 2017

This book made me consider points of view that I had not considered before. The perspective of a civilian who has worked both for civilian agencies and the Department of Defense brings a unique view. Some of which she writes is not new, such as the Kosovo Precedent and her concerns of drone warfare.......more

Goodreads review by Richard on January 11, 2020

I had a visceral feeling of dislike for this book, but I found the reasons for my reaction hard to pinpoint. Various criticisms passed through my mind -- that it isn't well organized, that it mixes memoir and analysis, that it didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know. But none of these com......more

Goodreads review by Randall on March 09, 2021

According to political sociologist Charles Tilly, bandits and strongmen ruled Europe until the rise of the state which could then outmuscle the strong men. Taxation allowed states to raise revenue to the point that non-state actors could no longer compete with the state. “Nineteenth-century British......more

Quotes

“A dynamic work of reportage, punctuated by savory details… It delights. The author is a chipper field guild and canny ethnographer, writing with refreshing honesty about the folk ways of the Department of Defense, which often confound outsiders… Illuminating.”

“Brooks writes with clarity and epigrammatic wit.... In impressive and often fascinating detail, she documents that the boundaries between war and peace have grown so hazy as to undermine hard-won global gains in human rights and the rule of law.”

“One of the most thought-provoking books I’ve ever read. It’s as if we have been sleep walking into this new world and Rosa has turned on a flashlight to show what we are doing and where we are going.”

“An important and compelling examination of the American war machine, reported from inside the Pentagon, the great beast itself. Outstanding.”

“Ambitious and astute.”

“For anyone troubled by our murky and perpetual wars, Rosa Brooks offers a deeply challenging and delightfully provocative answer to the question: What the hell is going on here, and what can we do about it?”

“Rosa Brooks asks us to confront hard but essential questions about war, peace, liberty, morality, and the rule of law. As challenging as these issues are, she has a gift for wrapping them in gripping stories and delightfully witty prose. Reading How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything is like having a conversation with a smart, wry, and unsentimental friend who guides and pushes us toward a new set of answers.”

“In a masterful argument, sometimes between her own contradictory feelings, Rosa Brooks shows how battle lines have been blurred. Soldiers work, and sometimes rule, in areas once the uncontested realm of civilians. It is another complex, potentially dangerous, challenge that we must work to understand. Start with this book.”

“How Everything Became War is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the continuing evolution of the modern military, and who is prepared to engage in serious thinking about the future of armed conflict.”

“A trenchant, timely new book.... Approaching her sprawling subject in a rambling voice that mixes politics, human rights, history, literature, travel to desolate lands and some of her own story, Brooks produces an ambitious, courageous tome that helps both sides of the wide civilian-military divide.”