Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (Second Edition)

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Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (Second Edition)

by Chalmers Johnson

3.97 · rating details · 671 ratings · 84 reviews

Now with a new and up-to-date Introduction by the author, the bestselling account of the effect of American global policies, hailed as “brilliant and iconoclastic” (Los Angeles Times)

The term “blowback,” invented by the CIA, refers to the unintended results of American actions abroad. In this incisive and controversial book, Chalmers Johnson lays out in vivid detail ...more

Paperback, 288 pages

Published January 4th 2004 by Owl Books

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Community Reviews

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Apr 15, 2009

Trevor rated it

Shelves: history, social-theory

This book is remarkable. The guy is one of the United State’s foremost experts on China and Japan. The main thesis of the book is that because the US has not really adjusted its foreign policy to account for the collapse of the Soviet Union it is still essentially fighting the cold war. But fighting the cold war isn’t really a good idea, particularly for the US, as it effectively gives an unfair economic advantage to East Asia. He claims that the US needs to better integrate both its foreign...moreThis book is remarkable. The guy is one of the United State’s foremost experts on China and Japan. The main thesis of the book is that because the US has not really adjusted its foreign policy to account for the collapse of the Soviet Union it is still essentially fighting the cold war. But fighting the cold war isn’t really a good idea, particularly for the US, as it effectively gives an unfair economic advantage to East Asia. He claims that the US needs to better integrate both its foreign policy objectives and economic objectives – both of which come most clearly into conflict in its dealings with countries like South Korea and Japan which it gives economic preference to, at the expense of US industry, companies and jobs.

There are a number of predictions made in this book, most of them dire and many of them have pretty well come true over the last few years. The current economic crisis being just one of these, as was 9/11 – this book was written 18 months prior to 9/11 and said something of the kind was virtually inevitable due to US imperial ambitions and actions. Given that most Americans don’t accept that they have an empire, much of the book will probably only annoy US readers. This will particularly be the case with the extensive comparisons he makes between the US and the USSR throughout the cold war – many of which are anything but flattering to the US.

He makes a fascinating point that the US concept of freedom is basically an 18th century conception of individual freedom, whilst the Soviet (and Chinese) conceptions were 19th century collective notions. He uses this to explain the differences in views about ‘human rights’ violations, and I think he is right. I remember the old Soviet commentators who would be accused by us of doing bad things to individuals and them responding by talking about unemployment rates in the US.

One of the speculations in this book is that it is possible (perhaps even likely) that in a hundred years time people will not look back and say, “The US won the cold war” – but rather that the building of mirror empires helped to destroy both the US and the USSR. We are just yet to see the US tumble just yet.

I’ve very limited knowledge or understanding of the history of East Asia – that is much less the case now. This book provides detailed and disturbing information on the history of US involvement in Korea, Japan and China. It puts quite a different spin on what I had taken for granted. There are interesting facts you just don’t think about – for example, a US president visited China before one visited Japan. Now, isn’t that interesting and quite unexpected? The Presidents were Nixon for China and then Ford for Japan. He is anything but complimentary about how the US built ‘democracy’ in Japan. He claims that their political system is so badly rigged and seen as such in Japan, that the average Japanese citizen feels totally alienated from the political system. He talks about coups in South Korea that virtually organised by the US. It reads like a huge conspiracy theory, until you realise that this guy had worked for the CIA and is clearly a respected US intellectual. The chapters on China, particularly China’s movement towards nationalism as the core ‘faith’ in China are fascinating.

Part of his concern is that Nixon abandoned the Bretton Woods Agreement and that this was one of the worst decisions of the century and something we will pay very dearly for. Essentially, he is quite fond of capitalism, but completely opposed to finance capitalism. He claims the 30s depression was deepened and prolonged due to currency speculation. He says that this was the main reason for Bretton Woods pegging currencies against the US dollar and fixing the US dollar at $35 per ounce of gold. This made it impossible to speculate on currencies and added stability to the world economy. However, Nixon (faced with a budget deficit due to the Vietnam war) decoupled the US dollar from the gold standard and floated it. Now, currency speculation is rife and was a major cause of the Asian financial crisis and likewise with the world financial crisis we are facing.

The parts of this book dealing with Okinawa are very disturbing. I remember the rape case of the twelve year old girl by the three US servicemen, but had never really thought about it at the time. You know, unfortunately, man rapes child is hardly an exceptional headline. I had no idea this was basically the last straw in Okinawa and that Okinawa has very many reasons to be utterly pissed off with the US bases it is forced to accommodate and to financially support.

The title of this book refers to a CIA term about US foreign policy that sometimes US policy has consequences that ‘blowback’ on US citizens and harms the US. For example, having US military bases in Saudi Arabia seriously annoys Arab nationalists who then fly planes into US buildings. He questions why it is still necessary to have US bases in some of these places. For example, why it is necessary to keep so many US troops and forces in Okinawa. There is no real ‘threat’ that these forces are containing anymore. What are they doing there? His view is that the US has not finished fighting the cold war, even if the USSR no longer exists to be fought against. After the cold war the US could have adjusted to the new world reality and adjusted its foreign policy accordingly. However, it did not do this and instead created increasingly bizarre ‘threats’ such as Saddam Hussein and North Korea so as to justify retaining and increasing US miliary presence and military budget.

This is a wide ranging and fascinating book. The comparisons he runs of the Soviet invasion of Hungary and the US involvement in South Korea and Indonesia are compelling and disturbing. I really couldn’t recommend this book too highly.
(less)

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May 30, 2008

Aaron Minks rated it

Recommends it for: Any American with a grain of salt

Recommended to Aaron by: Michael Laney

Shelves: non-fiction

Chalmers book was more than thought provoking but maybe not quite live changing. The entire point of the book was convered early on and and Chalmers seemed to belabor it. It was a good point but hammered so hard and repeatedly that I did not finish. I got the point, appreciated it, learned from it, and set the book aside. Warning: Chalmers has a distinctly Anti-American bias. I'm not sure how he got it but it's fills the pages. To say that American involvement in foreign affairs more often leads...more

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Aug 09, 2011

Aaron Carpenter added it

This is a book about the unintended consequences of American actions in other countries. If you're interested in international politics, then this is a grain of salt you should definitely take.

Critics will label it as being hyped, but I think it's actually a window into worlds we seldom or never hear about in America. As someone who believes that you should "sweep your own porch before cleaning other people's porches," I've long believed that we should stop meddling in other people'...more

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Jun 08, 2011

Marissa Romeyn rated it

Another book I reread once every couple of years. Always relevant.....
From Booklist
A veteran, and veteran academic on China and Japan, offers a serious indictment of the security system the U.S. organized in East Asia circa 1950 to contain the communists. Convinced the time has arrived to close down bases, bring troops home, and renegotiate extant security treaties, Johnson examines, from a highly critical, almost excoriating viewpoint, the American presence in Japan, Korea, Okinawa, T...more

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Oct 13, 2010

Matt Shake rated it

This is another book I read in college. In political science there are two basic philosophies: "realism" and "idealism." When I was young I used to lean more towards political idealism. This philosophy encourages people to do things out of ideological principle. But Johnson wrote this book from a realist perspective, and I liked it enough that it ignited a slow conversion for me. Realists basically encourage people to act out of self-interest. But I've noticed two shade...more

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Jan 30, 2010

Steven Peterson rated it

Blowback, according to author Chalmers Johnson, is a term invented by the CIA to (page ix) ". . .describe the likelihood that our covert operations in other people's countries could result in retaliation against Americans, civilian and military, at home and abroad." At another point, he notes that (page xi) ". . .blowback is another way of saying that a nation sows what it reaps." It results in unintended consequences of actions.

This is an angry book, with Johnso...moreBlowback, according to author Chalmers Johnson, is a term invented by the CIA to (page ix) ". . .describe the likelihood that our covert operations in other people's countries could result in retaliation against Americans, civilian and military, at home and abroad." At another point, he notes that (page xi) ". . .blowback is another way of saying that a nation sows what it reaps." It results in unintended consequences of actions.

This is an angry book, with Johnson not pretending to take an academic perspective or a neutral analytical viewpoint. One simple example: The United States provided assistance to the resistance in Afghanistan against the old Soviet Union. One of the beneficiaries was Osama bin Laden. The result (page xiv):

It was only after the Russians had bombed Afghanistan back to the
stone age and suffered a Vietnam-like defeat, and the United States
had walked away from the death and destruction the CIA had helped
cause, that Osama bin Laden turned against his American supporters.

Blowback. We supported--and then abandoned the resistance; according to Johnson, this led to blowback later on.

The book examines a number of instances of what Johnson considers blowback--Okinawa, North and South Korea, China, Indonesia, Japan, and so on. The reader may not be fully convinced of one or another of these examples. He also noted, on page 26, the variety of dictators that the United States has supported to achieve foreign policy goals and, in the process, often angering local populations and producing negative effects for American goals.

In the concluding section, he says (page 217): ". . .the evidence is building that in the decade following the end of the Cold War, the United States largely abandoned a reliance on diplomacy, economic aid, international law, and multilateral institutions in carrying out its foreign policies and resported much of the time to bluster, military force, and financial manipulation." The end result? "The world is not a safer place as a result" (page 217). He argued that the United States has become an empire and is in danger of "imperial overreach."

All in all, this is an angry book. Johnson does not always successfully connect the dots; not all of his examples necessarily prove convincing. Nonetheless, this is a thought-provoking discussion. (less)

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Nov 30, 2010

Christopher rated it

I picked this book from a library sale quite interested in reading Johnson's work on where our foreign policy has gotten us in trouble which I agree with somewhat. Within the first 10 pages I new exactly where his opinions lay on the political spectrum. No big deal I read books all the time by people that I disagree with. It was when he started manipulating facts to fit his point that I put the book down.

Pg 8 in the paperback copy, Johnson blames the Pan Am 103 bombing on the US becaus...more

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Feb 09, 2012

Bryson rated it

The first thing to know is that both the title and subtitle are misleading. This is a book almost exclusively about US imperialism in East and Southeast Asia. It rarely explores other regions or what's usually termed blowback. However, it's probably one of the best critical introductions to US foreign policy in Asia. Johnson's strength is in recounting the specificities of US foreign policy. It's not a pretty picture.

In case after case, Johnson demonstrates the negative impact of Ame...moreThe first thing to know is that both the title and subtitle are misleading. This is a book almost exclusively about US imperialism in East and Southeast Asia. It rarely explores other regions or what's usually termed blowback. However, it's probably one of the best critical introductions to US foreign policy in Asia. Johnson's strength is in recounting the specificities of US foreign policy. It's not a pretty picture.

In case after case, Johnson demonstrates the negative impact of American military bases on local communities such as Okinawa and parts of the Philippines where, rape, crime, noise, disease, and environmental contamination are routine byproducts of American military presence. Add to this Americas complicity to South Koreas military's atrocities such as the Kwangju massacre (1980) Cheju (after World War II), & the US arming and training of Indonesia's death squad military, along with the relentless push for a militarized Asia by the American military-industrial complex, & the inept reorganization of foreign economies by American controlled institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank and foreign hostility toward the United States ceases to be a mystery.

Where American troops were once stationed abroad as a buffer against Soviet expansion, they are now used to influence the countries they occupy or to train governments in counter insurgency and political repression. Johnson points out that in several cases American intervention on behalf of a repressive government merely turned American protectorates into implacable enemies. Johnson sites Vietnam and Iran as two examples of this failed strategy, and he warns of impending identical results in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. The tragedy of America's misguided foreign policy, according to Johnson is that while it drains enormous resources from America, it fails to provide the nation with beneficial results.

We see the destructive legacy of American bases in Okinawa and elsewhere. Instead of continuing its obsolete Cold War strategy, Johnson calls on the United States to reevaluate its strategic requirements and to formulate a new foreign policy. An honest evaluation of American objectives according to Johnson would probably result in the recall of most American troops stationed abroad. Johnson foresees enormous resistance to such change from the military, which is the chief beneficiary of America's global military deployment. Johnson also argues that America is much better off accepting and working with China's inevitable economic surge and its increasing political status than attempting to contain the inevitable.

To anyone who is wondering why citizens of many foreign countries hate the United States, this book is a must read. Written prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11th, this book accurately predicts increasing blowback against the United States both at home and abroad in response to its late 20th Century foreign policy. The American challenge in the 21st Century according to Johnson involves dismantling the American empire and coping with blowback.(less)

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Oct 10, 2010

Gary rated it

· review of another edition

This is a book I'd long known of but had little inclination to read. I'm glad I finally took the time to read it. It's somewhat disturbing - the thesis is that the U.S. has lost all moral legitimacy in the post-Cold War era (the book was published in 2000) and that it is already on a steady glide-plane to its demise, a la the "imperial overstretch" that historian Paul Kennedy popularized. I think he's overstating his argument a bit, particularly in light of events that took place no...more

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Aug 03, 2010

Marcia rated it

We often wonder why there is anger against the USA around the world. We are prevented from accurate analysis of our status and stature globally because the media filters out the truth of our actions and their effects on other nations. This leaves us clueless to the reality that we press upon other nations calling it benevolence at home, but serving up crushing hegemony overseas. Thisbook explains how this process has worked against our nation and created the insecurity we now face as we become ...more

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Mar 06, 2009

G. Branden rated it

· review of another edition

As I recall, this is the first book I read after the September 11th attacks.

It was a good choice. Originally published in 2000, it saw a reprinting not long after I bought my copy--evidently I wasn't the only person impressed with Johnson's appearances on NPR at the time.

Essential reading for anyone who doubts that the United States constitutes an imperial power in the world (whether for good, ill, or both).

Johnson also makes the strongest case I've yet read for a...more

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May 11, 2009

Jana rated it

Blowback: the Costs and Consequences of American Empire by Chalmers Johnson. Johnson, author of over a dozen books, is a retired Professor of Asian Studies at UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, as well as a former consultant to the CIA. While at times I felt like I was drowning in information--I would get halfway down a page and have to start over, gasping for air after each sentence---the picture he portrays of America’s presence and policies in Asia after WWII is frightening. The continuing pre...more

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Jan 30, 2011

Aaron rated it

Shelves: politics

Reading about the revolution under way in Egypt, my mind immediately turns to "Blowback," an exceptionally helpful tour through America's foreign policy and actions abroad, their negative impacts and how they've colored how others see us.

When author Chalmers Johnson writes of "Blowback" he's using a term coined by the CIA. It's the definition of what happens when American interests are plied secretively abroad, and how the chickens come home to roost in the form of ...moreReading about the revolution under way in Egypt, my mind immediately turns to "Blowback," an exceptionally helpful tour through America's foreign policy and actions abroad, their negative impacts and how they've colored how others see us.

When author Chalmers Johnson writes of "Blowback" he's using a term coined by the CIA. It's the definition of what happens when American interests are plied secretively abroad, and how the chickens come home to roost in the form of blowback, everything from terrorist bombings on America's or an ally's soil to increasing hatred of America's pronounced love of democracy and simultaneous support of dictators.

Most of Johnson's dissection of American Empire and its consequences occurs in East Asia. But for the newest edition of his book, he included a forward that addresses the roots of 9/11 and that takes umbrage with former president George W. Bush's simplistic pronouncements about just how good America is. Johnson, in a provocative stance that permeates this book, asks, Are we really that good?

I highly recommend "Blowback." It's essential reading for understanding the last 50 to 70 years or so of American foreign policy and its consequences. It tears through modern American propaganda. It delves deeply into our relationships with the rest of the world, including China. And it bravely shows the consequences of American hegemony.

To say the book has current relevance would be an understatement. The U.S. has supported the leader of Egypt, Hosni Mubarek, for some time, including handing him military and other aid. What has that added up to? Support for a dictator. Support for repression of the people who are now rising up in the streets of Cairo and elsewhere in Mubarek's Egypt.

What a time to be living in the world. What a time to be an American. I have no idea how all of this is going to pan out, but I do know that is just as scary as it is exhilarating. Scary because so much of our energy predicament is tied up in the Middle East. Exhilarating because people who've been held down for so long have had enough.

What I'd like to see President Obama do is call for Mubarek to step down. He needs to throw his support in favor of the protestors and in favor of as peaceful a transition as possible. Instead, he seems to be trying to have it both ways, not calling for Mubarek's ouster, which is essentially buying off on his staying put while calling for a peaceful transition to democracy.

Mubarek has to go, and America needs to support that. If that means coming to terms with our government's support of a dictator - and all of the attendant moral, economic and political ramifications it holds - then so be it. (less)

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Sep 27, 2009

Bob rated it

this was among the books that Rep. Ron Paul told Rudy Giuliani to read after Giuliani tried to accuse Paul of blaming Americans for September 11th. it's a fascinating read, covering details that you'll really never hear from US news organizations. our presence in the world is seen -- rightly, in my classical conservatism view -- more and more as the bully on the playground, not the savior of freedom. our founding fathers in the US warned of standing armies, entangling alliances, and putting ou...more

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Sep 06, 2010

Dale rated it

Shelves: history, nonfiction

This book was written in 2000 and focuses mostly on blowback of US policies in East Asia, and only peripherally on policies in the Arab world. The term 'Blowback' is now pretty widely known: the long-term unintended consequences of policy decisions and covert actions.

Johnson begins by making the case that the US has been an imperialist power since the end of World War II. What other country has troops stationed in over 100 countries? How many of those countries have troops stationed ...more

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Mar 02, 2010

John Caneday rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

Johnson argues that America used aggressive means in counter-balancing Soviet power during the Cold War, but the economic and militaristic imperialism did not end with the Cold War. America's imperialism has brought blowback, what he describes as unintended consequences of American policies.

Johnson focuses on East Asia--primarily China, Japan, and Korea and America's relationships with them since the end of WWII. He ascribes the 1997 economic collapse in Asia directly to American...more

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Jan 09, 2009

Jon rated it

If you are willing to put up with some statistics and learn all about American/Sino relations, this is the book for you. I benefited from the particular instances that Johnson relates which baldly exemplify the over-stepping of the U.S. military. The poor people of Okinawa, who live under a military dictatorship come to mind. And their young women who are raped or at least prostituted to the American troops.

People want their own identity, to deal with other nations in mutual autonomy...more

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Oct 30, 2009

Kamil Salamah rated it

An amazing history of America's involvement in Southeast Asia with all its associated consequences from social, culutral, political, military, economical, financial and human rights aspects.

Again, it is another piece of outstanding written material that tragically paints a trajectory for the Empire of the age that is most unfortunate due to the loss of the Dream of the Founding fathers of America. Once again the power of the military-industrial complex( warned against by many includ...more

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Aug 28, 2011

Stephen Beck rated it

· review of another edition

It is apparent that although this book was written and published in 2000,PRE 9-11, it is obvious to even the most anesthetized and clueless American, obsessing on celebrity and shopping that what has happened in those eleven years is part-and-parcel what Mr. Johnson defines as blowback - the unintended consequences of our pursuit of global hegemony. Here is the first paragraphs from the final chapter, The Consequences of Empire.

"American officials and the media talk a great deal ...moreIt is apparent that although this book was written and published in 2000,PRE 9-11, it is obvious to even the most anesthetized and clueless American, obsessing on celebrity and shopping that what has happened in those eleven years is part-and-parcel what Mr. Johnson defines as blowback - the unintended consequences of our pursuit of global hegemony. Here is the first paragraphs from the final chapter, The Consequences of Empire.

"American officials and the media talk a great deal about "rogue states" like Iraq and North Korea, but we must ask ourselves whether the US has itself become a rogue superpower. In Nov '98, Tom Plate, a columnist on Pacific Rim affairs for the LA Times,described the US as a "muscle-bound crackpot superpower with little more than cruise missiles for brains." That same month, a senior State Department specialist on North Korea, when asked by a right-wing journalist what it was like having to deal daily with a totally crazy regime, replied, "Which one?" Another former State Department official protested that military might does not equate with "leadership of the free world" and wrote that Madeline Albright is the 1st secretary of state in American history whose diplomatic specialty, if one can call it that, is lecturing other governments, using threatening language and tastelessly bragging of the power and virtue of her country. It is possible to think of other secretaries of state who fit this description, going back to John Foster Dulles, but Albright does not have the Cold War to justify her jingoism."

And it goes on to some very disturbing conclusions after nine chapters of depressing detail. Details of hubris expressed through military and economic terrorism in Japan, the
Korean peninsula, Indonesia, Taiwan and mainland China, Okinawa. And this is all before the fiascos of Irag and Afghanistan which is perhaps addressed in the next two volumes. I personally think the USofuckingA is unable to address any of the issues that are confronting us; we deserve what we are going to get, in light of the policies of militarization and globalization exemplied in neolibralism of the IMFand World Bank. I know the country will always be around, continuing its blustering approach that we are an exceptional country, and that God in his infinite wisdom has said this is so. But we are basking in the afterglow of the American Century, and all that has made us the great nation we were is naught. Blowback is our future.(less)

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Jul 15, 2010

Adam Sprague rated it

First off let me say that every person in high school from the day this was printed on should be required to read the introduction.

Actually, every person should be required by law to read the introduction. (it's that good and spot on)

The problem with political books is people like to read what matches their taste. So in other words, the people that need to read this book are not going to.

I found the first half of the book very enjoyable and quick moving. I de...more

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Oct 02, 2007

Jennifer rated it

This book opens pretty powerfully with a description of the US military's accident in Italy, where jet pilots flying below 300 feet cut the cable of a ski gondola and killed 20 people. The pilots who were clearly flying lower and faster than regulations allowed, were tried in the US and not even really reprimanded. And, as the book points out, how many Italian jet pilots are training in US bases? Why are we even in Italy, a friendly country that has almost zero possibility ever being invaded ...more

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Jul 02, 2009

J. Dunn rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, american, 20th-century, history, politics, war, cold-war, imperialism, korea, japan, foreign-policy, terrorism, violence, owned, have-etext

This book is pretty damned prescient. It’s all about the bad and mostly unintended consequences that have arisen due to American military interference around the world in the past thirty years. Think of it as a rational, national-interest-based argument against American expansionism and empire. It’ll also teach you a few things about Korea and our other activities in Asia over the last fifty years, and about the mostly unintentional, but still very important effects that the behavior of our forc...more

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Sep 28, 2009

Dave Winter rated it

This is THE definitive work on American foreign policy. The book explains how the CIA and its annexes take action without thinking of the consequences. For example, it was the CIA who established the Sha in the Iranian government in the 1950s, and now America is paying the price for it. This is part one in a three-part series, and is a necessary book for anyone who is interested in the tragedy that is American foreign policy.

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Feb 23, 2011

Christopher rated it

Punching a man in the face, or killing his family, is not the best way to make him your friend. This principle extends to foreign policy. The U.S., far from making friends, has made countless enemies. We will unfortunately reap future violence (terrorism) from this bitter harvest.

Johnson focuses on blowback from Asia, the area of the world on which he is an expert.

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Jul 12, 2007

Alan rated it

· review of another edition

blowback is about the consequences of US foreign policy. while only touching on the training of the mujahadeen and bin ladin (recent issues are published with a "i told you so" introduction), the book concentrates on policy towards east asia. the consequences of the US military base in seized and occupied okinawa 50 years after WWII is examined in good detail, outlining the rape and slew of disruption the military has done to the island.

among others, johnson's description ...more

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Feb 24, 2010

Marc rated it

A wonderful look at America's recent foreign policy in Southwest Asia. This book poses the question "Why do we have over 100,000 troops in Japan and Korea?" and answers it: There is no reason. Why is our defense budget almost $270 billion a year (2000 numbers)? Guess who has the next biggest military budget? Japan... at $47 billion, which dwarfs China's military budget, which is about $30 billion. Of course all of these numbers have increased over the years, especially with the onset o...more

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Feb 20, 2011

Anthony rated it

The most un-American book I have ever read. Was forced to read it by a professor in college in pursuant of my political science degree. I do not recommend it to anyone, as I wouldn't want the author to profit any more than he already has off of this garbage. The professor was garbage as well.

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May 30, 2009

Mark Young rated it

Shelves: social-justice

Another in a series of books I've been reading lately on this concept of "American Empire." It was quite persuasive about the ills America has visited upon the world and for a change had quite a few things the U.S. could do to reverse some of the bitterness that's building against it in the world. Something I hope that Barack Obama is able to achieve.

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Dec 18, 2010

Ian rated it

Lots to recommend in this book: great perspective on America's economic and military bullying (though, largely focused on east Asia). Connects the dots between American policy abroad and the collapse of manufacturing and the middle class at home.

One thing I hate about books like this is confronting the depth of my own ignorance.

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Jun 13, 2011

Kien rated it

No such thing as government without hypocrisy. Interesting to read a criticism of US foreign policy by an American. Interesting facts and interpretations of the effects of us policy regarding non allied countries, and the disregard for the welfare of allied countries when it doesn't benefit the military industrial complex.

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About Chalmers Johnson

Chalmers Ashby Johnson was an American author and professor emeritus of the University of California, San Diego. He fought in the Korean war, from 1967-1973 was a consultant for the CIA, and ran the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley for years. He was also president and co-founder of the Japan Policy Research Institute, an organization promoting public education a...more

More about Chalmers Johnson...

Books by Chalmers Johnson

The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project)

Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (American Empire Project)

Dismantling the Empire: America's Last Best Hope (American Empire Project)

An Instance of Treason: Ozaki Hotsumi and the Sorge Spy Ring

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