false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1187820020m/1758501.jpg 1758501 2 The neocons have become at once the most feared and reviled intellectual movement in American history. Critics on left and right describe them as a tight-knit cabal that ensnared the Bush administration in an unwinnable foreign war.<br><br>Who are the neoconservatives? How did an obscure band of policy intellectuals, left for dead in the 1990s, suddenly rise to influence the Bush administration and revolutionize American foreign policy?<br><br>Jacob Heilbrunn wittily and pungently depicts the government officials, pundits, and think-tank denizens who make up this controversial movement, bringing them to life against a background rich in historical detail and political insight. Setting the movement in the larger context of the decades-long battle between liberals and conservatives, first over communism, now over the war on terrorism, he shows that they have always been intellectual mavericks, with a fiery prophetic temperament (and a rhetoric to match) that sets them apart from both liberals and traditional conservatives.<br><br>Neoconservatism grew out of a split in the 1930s between Stalinists and followers of Trotsky. These obscure ideological battles between warring Marxist factions were transported to the larger canvas of the Cold War, as over time the neocons moved steadily to the right, abandoning the Democratic party after 1972 when it shunned intervention abroad, and completing their journey in 1980 when they embraced Ronald Reagan and the Republican party. There they supplied the ideological glue that held the Reagan coalition together, combining the agenda of &#8220;family values&#8221; with a crusading foreign policy.<br><br>Out of favor with the first President Bush, and reduced to gadflies in the Clinton years, they suddenly found themselves in George W. Bush&#8217;s administration in a position of unprecendented influence. For the first time in their long history, they had their hands on the levers of power. Prompted by 9/11, they used that power to advance what they believed to be America&#8217;s strategic interest in spreading democracy throughout the Arab world.<br><br>Their critics charge that the neo-conservatives were doing the bidding of the Israeli government -- a charge that the neoconservatives rightfully reject. But Heilbrunn shows that the story of the neocons is inseparable from the great historical drama of Jewish assimilation. Decisively shaped by the immigrant exerience and the trauma of the Holocaust, they rose from the margins of political life to become an insurgent counter-establishment that challenged the old WASP foreign policy elite.<br><br>Far from being chastened by the Iraq debacle, the neocons continue to guide foreign policy. They are advisors to each of the major GOP presidential candidates. Repeatedly declared dead in the past, like Old Testament prophets they thrive on adversity. This book shows where they came from -- and why they remain a potent and permanent force in American politics. 1756399 15 1 2007 They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons total:19|5:2|4:9|3:5|2:3| 19 67 61 3 4 0 false false Fri Sep 19 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 10 07:47:28 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 20 21:44:19 -0700 2008
It could have been an excellent book, but it didn't make it. It dwells too ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 13 14:50:30 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 13 14:51:51 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Nov 29 17:55:35 -0800 2008 Thu Jul 09 18:55:00 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Nov 25 09:21:58 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 25 14:07:31 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Sep 23 18:59:02 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 18:59:02 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Aug 19 00:42:20 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 00:42:20 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Fri Jul 03 21:11:34 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 21:11:34 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Jun 08 07:55:42 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 16:28:34 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 07:55:42 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Wed May 20 17:47:57 -0700 2009 Wed May 20 17:47:57 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed May 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 06:51:03 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 06:51:38 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Apr 15 13:26:06 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 17:37:01 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Mar 28 09:44:38 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 28 09:44:43 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Mar 16 11:05:06 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 16 11:22:12 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Mar 20 07:29:50 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 13 18:02:48 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 20 07:29:50 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Feb 26 12:06:33 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 26 12:06:33 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Feb 10 06:10:37 -0800 2009 Thu Apr 09 04:47:53 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Apr 22 13:31:04 -0700 2009 Sun Feb 01 17:23:46 -0800 2009 Wed Apr 22 13:31:04 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Feb 06 11:22:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 10:00:48 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 06 11:22:00 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Jan 29 09:21:52 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 29 09:22:17 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Jan 10 04:07:54 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 10 04:07:54 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1758501