This is an extraordinarily important book that every citizen should read. Maddow does a really good job of explaining where we've come from, philosophically, when it comes to national security and the dangerous place we now occupy. The fact that we now live in a national security state that has, to use her term, "metastasized" -- where the "disincentives to war deliberately built into our American system of government, particularly the citizen soldier and leaving the power to declare war with Congress instead of the president" have been effectively neutered -- these are alarming and dangerous changes from the tradition that served America so well for so much of its history. Maddow lays the blame squarely with both political parties and outlines how presidents Obama and Clinton as well as both Bushes and Reagan have played a roll in accelerating this "drift." I'm a little disappointed that the book has not generated more debate nationally but perhaps this will happen. This is a national debate we NEED to have.