The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism

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The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism

4.02 of 5 stars 4.02 · rating details · 1,117 ratings · 264 reviews

From an acclaimed conservative historian and former military officer, a bracing call for a pragmatic confrontation with the nation's problems

The Limits of Power identifies a profound triple crisis facing America: the economy, in remarkable disarray, can no longer be fixed by relying on expansion abroad; the government, transformed by an imperial presidency, is a democracy...more

Hardcover, 224 pages

Published August 5th 2008 by Metropolitan Books

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Oct 14, 2008 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars

Brilliant insight into current distortion of Jefferson's claim for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Bacevich, a conservative, can reach across the isle to unite both parties into realizing that limitless consumption and consumerism is not going to have a happy ending.

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Mar 21, 2009 Doug rated it 5 of 5 stars

Excellent read if you are interested in US politics as it relates to the US' place in the world. The author is a former military officer, and not really "liberal" nor "conservative." The viewpoint expounded in the book might be considered radical by the woefully uninformed average American citizen. However, I found it to be not so radical compared to another of my favorite political authors, Noam Chomsky. The main point of the book is that the US as a nation has been consuming more than we can a...more

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Oct 17, 2008 Rick Krekel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Rick by: PBS Bill Moyers

Retiring a Colonel after 23 years in the Army, Andrew Bacevich is well acquainted with the political nature of projecting American military power abroad. His work in this volume goes far beyond the present administration's doctrine of preemptive war to the heart of the American illusion of indestructibility and how military solutions are overly relied upon to solve national security threats.

The stunning conclusion is America's war on terror is disproportionately falling on a small segment of th...more

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Oct 11, 2008 Sally rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history-current, nonfiction

Sobering indictment and insightful analysis of prevailing American political and military ideology, institutions, and practices since the end of WW II, with its focus on the current situation and the lessons we might correctly draw from it. He points out how unrealistic, ideologically-driven national security decisions accellerating since the 1950s have led to a bloated, dysfunctional national security establishment at odds with an imperial executive branch to which Congress has ceded much of it...more

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Oct 16, 2008 Pat rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, political-science, strategic-studies

I picked up this book after seeing Bacevich interviewed on Bill Moyers Journal. It was a repeat, but I found myself watching it a second time. I'm really impressed with the argument that Reagan set us on the path to consumerism, debt, and abuse of our limited natural resources. And he lied when he told us there wouldn't be a day of reckoning.

Deregulation has just cost us a downpayment of $700 billion on an ongoing financial meltdown. A lack of adequate government oversight has already caused ou...more

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Oct 08, 2008 Nicholas rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People interested in national policy.

Recommended to Nicholas by: Bill Moyers

Shelves: nonfiction-current-events

I saw Andrew Bacevich's interview with Bill Moyers on PBS last week and was impressed enough by his demeanor, verve, and intelligence to go out and buy the book off Amazon right away.

Andrew Bacevich is a conservative academic with a distinguished military career, who teaches International Affairs at Boston University. He is a real conservative, not one of those 'I worship triple the size of government, Ronald Reagan Conservatives.' From his writings I actually believe he thinks government should...more I saw Andrew Bacevich's interview with Bill Moyers on PBS last week and was impressed enough by his demeanor, verve, and intelligence to go out and buy the book off Amazon right away.

Andrew Bacevich is a conservative academic with a distinguished military career, who teaches International Affairs at Boston University. He is a real conservative, not one of those 'I worship triple the size of government, Ronald Reagan Conservatives.' From his writings I actually believe he thinks government should be decreased in size and budgets should be legitimately balanced. He's the type of conservative that I could easily sit down and have a discussion with and probably nod my head in agreement with as often as not.

Here, he writes a compact, yet detailed, explanation of American's real problems, not the stupid ones presented to you nightly on the news, like gay marriage or stem cell research, instead, he lays the facts on the table summable in the following statement: The United States is steeped in debt, both national and personal and is attempting to use its military to stave off the eventual collapse that will occur when a nation goes completely bankrupt.

To prove his argument, Bacevich simply points out the obvious. Currently, the United States sits on $10 trillion worth of debt, with annual deficit of $400 billion. We have a trade deficit, and individual Americans have negative saving rates. Bacevich blames every president since LBJ for the sorry state of affairs, but saves most of his ire for Ronald Reagan and his successors, Bill Clinton, and both Bushes, for the continuation of this time bomb lifestyle.

The next part of his argument states that to put off the coming catastrophe, and to keep Americans from realizing that they could not longer hold onto the consumerist culture they had become addicted to, the government has turn to the military to create an empire throughout the world to protect American's access to cheap oil and therefor, cheap goods. It is a heady argument, but his explanation is quite lucid, and takes up the next half of the book.

I recommend this book to anyone who is actually interested in how we got this far into the hole without even blinking and what the consequences are of our actions. Although, I don't recommend this book for anyone looking for directions on what to do, which is really my only criticism of the the entire text.(less)

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Nov 25, 2008 Daniel rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who thinks we really do need change in our country

Shelves: recommend, political, favorites

This is not the easiest book to read because Bacevich aims a magnifying glass at the current status quo in the United States and deconstructs the historic context that explains how we have become a people so accustomed to living beyond our means who refuse to make sacrifices or do without. He introduces the teaching of the theologian Reinhold Neibuhr who had the foresight during the Cold War to see that America's love of excess would eventually be her undoing.

Throughout this book, Bacevich weave...more

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Sep 17, 2008 Janet rated it 5 of 5 stars

Bacevich knows history and he uses it to bolster his argument that the national ethic of self-gratification, viewed not as profligacy but as "freedom," has led the nation to disasterous imperial activities under both Democratic and Republican leadership. The Iraqi War is only one example. This corrosive ethic has led us to economic and political crises, as well. Acknowledging the limits on US power does not mean "retrenchment and irreversible decline," rather it requires a commitment to a new fo...more

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Apr 19, 2009 Neibaur rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book could've been done 80 pages into it. While I found Bacevich's perspective interesting, I also found his writing repetitive, using 160+ pages to make the same point over and over again. My advice, read the first 80 or so pages and then the last 12 and you'll have a great sense of the author's point.

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Oct 08, 2008 Nathan Timoteo rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: The concerned

Recommended to Nathan by: Bill Moyers, Andrew Bacevich

I'm convinced 'The Limits of Power' may be one of the most important I'll ever read concerning the times I live in.

While Bacevich identifies himself as a conservative this book is anything but. He holds a mirror up to America's face and doesn't flinch in doing so. It's a short book but all the more powerful because of it. Here is the type of straightforward writing and thinking that many Americans might be looking for, and I highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in what could possibly b...more

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Sep 03, 2008 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: non-fiction

Every American needs to read this book, and read it soon. Bacevich, a retired Army Colonel and now History Prof in Boston, puts forth the case that we, the American people, have allowed our present economic, military and political status to come about through our own non-involvement and obsession with consumption at any price. It is a convincing argument and although I was somewhat dismayed that the conclusion settled for hopelessness with a touch of condescension, the book as a whole is a grand...more

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Sep 25, 2008 Mike rated it 5 of 5 stars

An excellent discussion on the roots of our current dilemmas - in Iraq, with Iran, N Korea etc. He posits thre primary addictions - cheap oil, cheap goods, and cheap credit - and how we use our military in unilateral fashion to attempt to enforce it an open source. Further, he discusses the ways we look to the world as the source and aggravation of ALL of our problems rather than look within and "get our own house in order. Written by a retired colonel Now a college professor in Boston) who foug...more

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Mar 29, 2009 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: political-science

As I read this book, I thought some people could see Bacevich as a conspiriacy theorist. He begins with WWII and shows how the American government starting with Nitze in the Truman administration put forth propaganda to keep American afraid. He then draws a line from Nitze to Rumsfield to show fear has been used to build up the military and start wars when threats weren't real. Remember Iraq's WMD's? Our foreign policy is more driven by egos than any practical purpose.

He also shows the foolishne...more

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Mar 11, 2009 Alan rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book offers a provocative argument: that the ideals contained in the Declaration of Independence for life liberty and the pursuit of happiness have become perverted over time. Now, the author says, "happiness" for many Americans has become associated with endless consumption. Freedom has become "just another thing to buy." Our over-consumption has become unsustainable with disastrous effects both on oursleves and the entire world.
So far so good. But then the author takes his argument a ste...more This book offers a provocative argument: that the ideals contained in the Declaration of Independence for life liberty and the pursuit of happiness have become perverted over time. Now, the author says, "happiness" for many Americans has become associated with endless consumption. Freedom has become "just another thing to buy." Our over-consumption has become unsustainable with disastrous effects both on oursleves and the entire world.
So far so good. But then the author takes his argument a step further: "Our pursuit of life, liberty and happiness at home requires increasingly that Americans look beyond our borders. Whether the issue at hand is oil, credit or the availability of cheap consumer goods, we expect the world to accomodate the American way of life." (page 9)
"Simply put, as the American appetite for freedom has grown, so too has our penchant for empire."
It's an intriguing idea but the book doesn't to my mind completely make the case. Instead, it falls back on an all-too-familiar litany of alleged American foreign policy misdeeds over the past 80 years and culminates in a ferocious attack on the George W. Bush administration.
I find these reviews of the bad side of U.S. foreign policy somewhat disturbing. Film director Michael Moore did much the same thing in "Bowling for Columbine." Of course, there's much to criticize in the U.S. record -- but such criticism should be balanced. The United States after all, through the Marshall Plan, did provide the basis for western Europe to rebuild after World War II. It did win the Cold War, allowing Eastern Europe to free itself from the Soviet grip. And American "empire" if such there has been, has been far more benign than any other empire in human history. Having defeated Japan, the United States helped the Japanese construct a new democratic society -- and then withdrew leaving them to challenge our economic dominance.
The account of the first Gulf War is likewise incomplete. Did the author forget that Saddam Hussein invaded and occupied Kuwait, a sovereign nation? Is there any doubt that unchecked, he would have gone on to threaten Saudi Arabia which would have given him control of most of the world's oil?
Far from behaving in an imperial manner, President Bush (the father, not the son) constructed a wide international coalition, obtained United Nations approval and expelled Iraq from Kuwait, after which he stopped the war and brought the troops home. Of course, his son took a different path -- but that's no reason to argue that the younger Bush represented the logical outcome of decades of U.S. foreign policy.
I too find American exceptionalism to be disturbing (I would have welcomed a history of this phenomenon but you will not find it here) and of course we need to get to grips with American over-consumption. But the link between domestic trips to the shopping mall and invading Iraq is tendencious and unproven in this book.
It's still an interesting read. The author has many insightful comments that are worth thinking about. He just takes them a bridge too far. (less)

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Jan 28, 2009 Regina rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a serious, balanced commentary on the recent history of American wars, with a focus on the war in Iraq. Bacevich is considered a conservative historian and is an ex-member of our military, which makes his critique of America’s hunger for political and economic power abroad and the price we pay for it at home all the more compelling. One could argue that part of what informs him is his personal tragedy --- he lost a son in Iraq --- but he does not strike me as someone with an agenda and n...more This is a serious, balanced commentary on the recent history of American wars, with a focus on the war in Iraq. Bacevich is considered a conservative historian and is an ex-member of our military, which makes his critique of America’s hunger for political and economic power abroad and the price we pay for it at home all the more compelling. One could argue that part of what informs him is his personal tragedy --- he lost a son in Iraq --- but he does not strike me as someone with an agenda and neither does he bring his personal loss up in this book’s pages.
Bacevich starts by analyzing the US domestic and foreign policy after WWII and in particular since the end of the Cold War. He deftly takes us through the decades in which America’s relationship to the world went from responsibility to lead by example, derived in turn from an almost religious belief in this country’s special place in history, to a sense of entitlement that has often led us to the use of force in an attempt to prevent other countries from stepping outside the “enlighted” path we insist they follow --- to our advantage, of course. This attitude is what Bacevich calls American Exceptionalism.
Boldly describing the American regime as imperialism and its elected leaders as imperial presidents, Bacevich looks with equal harshness at the Republicans and Democrats who have occupied the presidency over the last 50 years. It’s true that he is particularly appalled by the policies of the last eight years and does not believe the war in Iraq can be justified on moral or national security grounds. But he also shines a critical light on Clinton and other democrats who have proposed nothing different than their Republican counterparts.
No one is spared, least of all the American people. Bacevich believes that we have gotten freedom confused with consumerism, and feel compelled and entitled to consume more and more without disruptions or inconveniences --- no matter what the price.
He starts his book with a quote from the bible (the Book of Second Kings, chapter 20, verse 1): “Set thine house in order”. We should look within before concluding that our problems can be solved with external intervention.
Many texts presenting well crafted analyses end with the author’s suggestions on what could be done to correct perceived problems. Bacevich does the same. But as is usually the case, his proposed solutions seem rushed and not very well argued when compared to the rest of the book. He could have left that part out.
Overall an excellent book which should be read by every American. And in spite of the somber tone, I couldn’t put it down.
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Aug 16, 2008 Marie marked it as to-read

"The pursuit of freedom, as defined in an age of consumerism, has induced a condition of dependence on imported goods, on imported oil, and on credit. The chief desire of the American people is that nothing should disrupt their access to these goods, that oil, and that credit. The chief aim of the U.S. government is to satisfy that desire, which it does in part of through the distribution of largesse here at home, and in part through the pursuit of imperial ambitions abroad," - Andrew Bacevich

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Mar 10, 2013 Mathew Toll rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a very timely book and Bacevich manages to pack it with a substantial amount of well organized information. His main themes, as evidenced by the title, are the limitations of power projection through military force and the ideology of American Imperium. He traces the history of the National Security State, its organizational apparatus and the friction between various departments and the ideology of National Security which provide the rationale for the projects of political elites. His a...more This was a very timely book and Bacevich manages to pack it with a substantial amount of well organized information. His main themes, as evidenced by the title, are the limitations of power projection through military force and the ideology of American Imperium. He traces the history of the National Security State, its organizational apparatus and the friction between various departments and the ideology of National Security which provide the rationale for the projects of political elites. His analysis situates the Bush administration within a tradition of ideology that spans back to the early days of the Cold war. Whilst also demonstrating its discontinuities; above all, the Bush doctrine's concept of "preemptive war". For Bacevich, this policy is both morally indefensible and pragmatically inept. He attempts to give both a description of the current crises (the crisis of profligacy, the political crisis and the military crisis) and prescriptive advice on how to readdress past mistakes. However, he does not view the current political, economic and military quandaries of the United State's as the product of the Bush Administration and its key insiders alone. Though, he does a fine job of dissecting figures like Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz while linking their ideological positions to pervious policy makers like James Forrestal and Paul Nitze. The crucial advantage of Bacevich's "The Limits of Power", is that it moves beyond the notion that the Bush Administration is an aberration and contextualizes the administration within the broader history of U.S. Foreign policy. Moreover, his analysis of institutional frameworks and the nature of self-seeking political elites add a deeper understanding to the current situation. To mention one failing, Bacevich does little to relate the current crises to the operations of capitalism itself. That however, would have perhaps limited the books appeal to segments of the political spectrum and pushed the book beyond its scope of inquiry. Despite that quibble, I couldn't recommend Colonel Bacevich's book more strongly. (less)

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Jan 14, 2013 Clif rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is a concise condemnation of the move to empire by the United States.

The author makes the case that American Exceptionalism, the idea that the U.S. system (of government, of economy, of culture) is superior and should be spread across the globe, is nothing new. Those who criticized it (Lincoln, Twain, LaFollette) "scored points but lost the argument".

It reached a crescendo with the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive war, implemented disastrously in Iraq. At the base of it is the idea that un...more

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Aug 21, 2012 Morgan Mussell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Anyone paying attention knows that our nation has lost its way, but that’s where clarity ends. How and when did we go wrong? Sometimes I wish I could read the histories that will be written a hundred years from now, after time has lent perspective to the chaos of current events. Thanks to Andrew Bacevich, we don’t have to wait for at least one piercing analysis.

Bacevich, a Viet Nam veteran, retired as a colonel after 23 years in the army. He holds a PhD in American Diplomatic History from Prince...more

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Jun 24, 2012 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

Just read in the LA Times today that the US spends more on defense that the next ten countries combined. Reading Bacevich's book gives almost encylopedic litany of reasons why this expenditure does not ensure our safety nor provide us with the mechanism to enforce the will of our government around the world.

Bacevich points out that the price of our excessive use of oil is undervalued. The price for a gallon of gas should include our military involvement in the Middle East. The sad fact is that o...more Just read in the LA Times today that the US spends more on defense that the next ten countries combined. Reading Bacevich's book gives almost encylopedic litany of reasons why this expenditure does not ensure our safety nor provide us with the mechanism to enforce the will of our government around the world.

Bacevich points out that the price of our excessive use of oil is undervalued. The price for a gallon of gas should include our military involvement in the Middle East. The sad fact is that our overblown "security and intelligence" organizations (Homeland Security, CIA, FBI, Joint Chiefs etc.) are usually ignored by the "imperial" presidency that has evolved over time. Instead, a small circle of trusted "wise men" advise the president. Our recent involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan shows the fruits of this approach. Our security agencies missed the predecessor signs before 9/11, got the nuclear threat of Iraq wrong and have basically been a waste of money.

The military also takes a beating in this book. Bacevich, who is a retired officer, lost his son to an IED in Iraq. His patriotism is not in doubt here. He notes that General Tommy Franks brags in his memoir that he ignored the poor advise of his civilian counterparts in the government and had almost total control of troops on the ground. No more excuses of excessive civilian oversight were given by him as was the case in our Vietnam fiasco. We went to Iraq "on the cheap" in terms of troop numbers and generated a power vacuum that the insurgency used to its advantage. The use and perfection of the IED has almost neutralized our incredible military expenditure.

The average American citizen also does not escape blame. We have allowed our leaders to lead us into two wars without clear objectives or historical perspective (remember the Russians in Afghanistan?). We have allowed the massive military expenditure of these adventures to go unpaid and even enjoyed tax cuts while our professional soldiers risked life and limb over multiple tours to the war zone. President Eisenhower warned of the dangers of the "Military Industrial Complex" posed to our democracy. Add big oil and the notion that corporations are the same as individuals and you have a polarized political environment that every four years blames the latest president for a system that is basically broken.

I will not go into some of the solutions that Bacevich offers. Please read this book and take to heart some of its wisdom.

(less)

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Feb 15, 2012 Mark rated it 2 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this book more, but I couldn't. The first half contains a great deal of moralization about America's wanting too much. But that is a function of economic policy and politics that applies to Greece as much as the US. Bacevich seems confused here. At one point he mentions plunging savings rates, but never mentions intentional monetary policies that have discouraged saving and encouraged debt. How these are related to war is unclear.

One probable link in Bacevich's mind is "energy i...more I wanted to like this book more, but I couldn't. The first half contains a great deal of moralization about America's wanting too much. But that is a function of economic policy and politics that applies to Greece as much as the US. Bacevich seems confused here. At one point he mentions plunging savings rates, but never mentions intentional monetary policies that have discouraged saving and encouraged debt. How these are related to war is unclear.

One probable link in Bacevich's mind is "energy independence." Bacevich seems like an unreconstructed Carterite at some points in this book (though at other times perhaps critical... I couldn't tell what he thought in any consistent sense). America's want too much oil. But why should any nation be able to produce everything it needs? I see mutual interdependence as a good thing and don't understand how Bacevich's "economic nationalism" (my term; and, again, I'm guessing as best I can) can possibly encourage peace.

In many places I felt like Bacevich flipflopped between a "bad people" analysis and a "structural provlems" analysis (again, my terms). I don't know if he really knows which. Trying to make sense of everything, I think the issue might be that we have embarked on a "national security tradition" that involves recruiting the wrong people to do the wrong thing. Since the positions are somewhat self-selecting, only people who have stupid and nationally degrading ideas about national security want or are allowed into those positions in the national [in]security apparatus.

But as far as I remember I just wrote a much clearer sentence than any you will find in The Limits of Power.

Also, Bacevich will make statements without evidence or argument. I especially remember him saying that our quality of generals is very low compared to ones we have had in the past. But he never proved this point or seemed to think he needed to. In making the comparison he claimed that Grant and Sherman were great generals. I find this hard to believe.

There was a lot of good information and food for thought. So I don't feel the book was a waste. But I remember his Washington Rules being a lot more cogent.

Also, he dismisses re-instituting national service, because it is politically unfeasible. But nothing is really feasible about any of his "solutions." So why limit himself? What does he think he is accomplishing in this book.

And then he ends with a call for saving the planet from climate change. Stealing the internal combustion engine from the developing world will make all our bloodshed in Iraq and Afghanistan seem like nothing. Anthropogenic global warming is a fraud that will be a eugenic genocide if seriously implemented. Which it never will be because India, China, and other nations are never going to allow us to do that to them.

I have no idea what drives Bacevich's world view. His critique of "pre-emptive war" is quite good, and his analysis of Wolfowitz, and other killer utopians who should never be given responsibility at any level of government, is chilling. But I am no longer going to recommend him. Associating peace with a bunch of pop-moralisms about the environment and energy is not going to be a productive way to wake people up.(less)

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Jun 19, 2011 Franz rated it 5 of 5 stars

Highly recommended. Bacevich, a former army colonel and now a military historian at Boston University, sees the last decade, and especially the Bush years, as the culmination of a national deterioration that began economically in the Reagan era, politically with Kennedy, and militarily in the immediate post-WW II era. The chapter on the profligacy crisis describes the bill of goods that political leaders since Reagan have sold the American people that they could have what they wanted when they w...more Highly recommended. Bacevich, a former army colonel and now a military historian at Boston University, sees the last decade, and especially the Bush years, as the culmination of a national deterioration that began economically in the Reagan era, politically with Kennedy, and militarily in the immediate post-WW II era. The chapter on the profligacy crisis describes the bill of goods that political leaders since Reagan have sold the American people that they could have what they wanted when they wanted without worrying about any prices the nation may have to pay. The job of politicians, nakedly admitted by Bush when he encouraged American to go shopping after 9/11, is to guarantee that Americans may live beyond their means as enthusiastic consumers with the help of artificially low oil prices--made possible by the maintenance by an expensive, overextended, and poorly led military.

Bacevich briefly expresses nostalgia for the America of the pre-New Deal period when the nation still embodied the republican ideals of the Founders. That included a balance of power among the three branches of government. Bacevich is especially harsh on Congress and its bloviating members for relinquishing power to the presidency. The accrual of power in the office of the president, personified at its worst by Bush and his cronies, summarizes the political crisis.

The military crisis commends those who have volunteered and served well, but condemns both the political and military leadership for failing to wield the power of the military wisely. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the obvious failures of wisdom, but earlier American misadventures to control the fate of other societies by either covert or noncovert means illustrate that poor leadership is not a recent phenomenon.

Bacevich's calls for the American people to exercise their citizenship by taking responsibility for both their governance and their pocket book, Congress to exercise the power assigned it by the Constitution, and the military to set more modest goals appropriate for a republic. Power is finite, and Bacevish encourages us to stop acting otherwise.(less)

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Sep 04, 2010 Benjamin Thomas rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, history

Mr Bacevich has written an incredibly thought-provoking book on where the US lies currently in it's trek along the "great experiment." I like to fancy myself a student of history, especially US history and have been troubled for quite some time about where my country is on its time line. I try to be optimistic and hope we are still on the rise but its difficult not to compare us with the fall of previous empires. Mr Bacevich has cleared up my thoughts considerably.

This book will appeal to peopl...more

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Oct 03, 2009 Lynne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction-politics

I was more impressed with this book than I expected to be. Here's a sample quote from the book [pg 174:]:

"To hard-core nationalists and neoconservatives, the acceptance of limits suggests retrenchment or irreversible decline. In fact, the reverse is true. Acknowledging the limits of American power is a precondition for stanching the losses of recent decades and for preserving the hard-won gains of earlier generations going back to the founding of the Republic. To persist in pretending that the U...more

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Jun 13, 2009 Rhonda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2009

Author writes a compelling book on the need for America to get back to its realist tradition before it's too late.

Lots of good "stuff" in here...all backed up by sources.

Favorite quotes:

"...define what it means to be an American in the twenty-first century. If one were to choose a single word to characterize that identity, it would have to be more. For the majority of contemporary Americans, the essence of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness centers on a relentless personal quest to acqu...more Author writes a compelling book on the need for America to get back to its realist tradition before it's too late.

Lots of good "stuff" in here...all backed up by sources.

Favorite quotes:

"...define what it means to be an American in the twenty-first century. If one were to choose a single word to characterize that identity, it would have to be more. For the majority of contemporary Americans, the essence of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness centers on a relentless personal quest to acquire, to consume, to indulge, and to shed whatever constraints might interfere with those endeavors. ... It would be misleading to suggest that every American has surrendered to this ethic of self-gratification. Resistance to its demands persists and takes many forms. Yet dissenters, intent on curbing the American penchant for consumption and self-indulgence are fighting a rear-guard action, valiant perhaps but unlikely to reverse the tide. The ethic of self-gratification has firmly entrenched itself as the defining feature of the American way of life. The point is neither to deplore not to celebrate this fact, but simply to acknowledge it. The ethic of self-gratification threatens the well-being of the United States.......because it saddles us with the costly commitments abroad that we are increasingly ill-equipped to sustain while confronting us with dangers to which we have no ready response. The present-day gap between requirements and the means available to satisfy those requirements is neither contrived nor imaginary. It is real and growing. This gap defines the crisis of American profligacy.
...
The restless search for a buck and the rughless elimination of anyone---or anything---standing in the way of doing so have long been central to the American character. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, "he holds nothing fast, but soon loosens his grasp to pursue fresh gratifications."

Secretary of Defense donald Rumsfield aptly summarized the prevailing view in October 2001: We have two choices. Either we change the way we live, or we must change the way they live. We choose the latter."

"Long accustomed to thinking of hte United States as a superpower, Americans have yet to realize that they have forfeited command of their own destiny. The reciprocal relationship between expansionisn, abundance, and freedom---each reinforcing the other---no longer exusts. If anything, the reverse is true: Expansionisn squancers American wealth and power, while putting freedom at risk."

"The chief attribute of the actually existing system---all of the institutions, structures, and arrangements implied by the word Washington ---is dysfunction. As the federal city emerged as the center of Ameraican power, it was occupied by a gang that couldn't shoot straight. Regardless of which party is in power, the people in charge don't know what they are doing. As a consequence, policies devised by Washington tend to be extravagant, wasteful, ill-conceived, misguided, unsuccessful, or simply beside the point."

"Faced with a choice of acknowledging an uncomfortable truth or finding some was to conceal, spin, or deny that truth, those who preside over the institutions of the national security state invariably choose the latter."

"But the propblem lies less with the army that we have---a very fine one, which every citizen should wish to preserve---than with the requirements that we have imposed on our soldiers. Rather than expanding or reforming that army, we need to treat it with the respect that it deserves. ... America doesn't need a bigger army. It needs a smaller---that is, more modest---foreign policy, one that assigns soldiers missions that are consistent with their capabilities." (less)

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Apr 29, 2012 Julie rated it 5 of 5 stars

There aren't enough stars for this rating. This book was amazing. It is the most clear-eyed view of what America has been up to since WWII that I have ever seen. It doesn't lay blame on one politician or the other, but on our entire system of consumption and entitlement and aggression. It doesn't say whether the glass is half empty or half full - it points out that the glass is the wrong size.

The author is a conservative, but he isn't blindly partisan, or even slightly partisan - he analyzes ve...more

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Jul 31, 2009 getAbstract rated it 4 of 5 stars

A conservative historian’s frank, searing analysis

Author Andrew J. Bacevich dedicates this book to his son, a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army who was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Bacevich has long been a strong conservative critic of U.S. policy in Iraq, but it’s difficult to escape the impression that the impassioned indictment set forth here draws on a deep reservoir of personal anguish. With unblinking, unwavering directness, he attacks the illusions, self-deceptions and hypocritical...more

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Feb 02, 2009 Tripp rated it 5 of 5 stars

Andrew Bacevich is one of the great influential critics of American foreign policy today. His critiques of American consumerism and foreign policy are not too distant from those of leftie giants like Chalmers Johnson, so the left-leaning find it easy to like him. On the other hand, he says out front that he is a conservative and revives an older tradition of conservatism that opposes growing government power and entangling overseas adventures, so the right can be comfortable with him as well. To...more

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Nov 19, 2009 John Caneday rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009

This is a book with some great ideas. Bacevich argues that the American Empire (yes, its an empire) is over extended. He argues that there is a limit to the power of the nation state, and that we have reached it, without recognizing it. Our profligate desires are out of step with reality, forcing our government to seek control over the Middle East, to control the source of oil that drives our nation's economy and helps fulfill our ever expanding desires.

He reviews the steps taken since World War...more

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Oct 24, 2009 Ed rated it 5 of 5 stars

Another must for Kate. An excellent book that really made me re-frame to whole of US national security policy and its deployment post 1945. He succeeds in connecting the weakness of the US economy with US foreign policy. Simply put rather than address the deep seated problems of the US economy, presidents especially since Reagan have built an imperial foreign policy designed to prop up a heavily imported oil addicted and foreign goods importing deficit economy. Reagan is exposed as the first of...more

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About Andrew J. Bacevich

Andrew J. Bacevich, a professor of history and international relations at Boston University, retired from the U.S. Army with the rank of colonel. He is the author of Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War and The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism and The New American Militarism. His writing has appeared in Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic Monthly, The Nation, The New York...more

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Books by Andrew J. Bacevich

Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War

The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War

American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy

The Short American Century: A Postmortem

The Imperial Tense: Prospects and Problems of American Empire

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