The American Way of War
Guided Missiles, Misguided Men, and a Republic in Peril

For better or worse, it's obvious that this was written by a film-maker. For better, because he writes very clearly and has a good eye for anecdotes. For worse, because it's pretty disordered, sometimes overly polemical and other times overly credulous. The best of all is the way he contextualizes t......more

The work of a passionate amateur. Quaint in hindsight. This 2008 book that is ostensibly about the creeping militarism of American foreign policy and the inherent corruption of the military industrial complex comes across as both naïve and outdated. Filmmaker Jarecki writes well, but does so from a......more

In the aftermath of the Iraq War, this book shows how the nation, by giving nearly unlimited power to the President, and bypassing Congressional debate and review, the US is moving its powerful war capability into ways that are not yielding the results we hoped to achieve. This is sobering critique,......more

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger o......more

Writing a valuable and critical review of this work has proven incredibly difficult for me, as the choice of rating in stars, and here is why in an incredibly erratic and stream of thought methodology. The source material appears to be appropriate, and I do not fault the sources Jarecki has chosen. H......more