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This is a powerful book that explains our country's practice of exceptionalism (illusions of grandeur) and the difficulties that result from it. Army and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, he brings tremendous experience, credibility, and expertise to his insights and conclusions.
Weaver II, Ph.D.In this 182-page book with a dozen pages of notes, Bacevich discusses the problems facing our economy, the difficulty created by an imperial presidency, and the seriousness of being involved in endless wars and suggests that all our problems have been exacerbated by this country's continual quest for more. The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism (American Empire Project)Review by Richard L.
As a professor history and international relations at Boston University, a colonel in the U.S. This is not a book for Democrats or Republicans, and Bacevich writes in an unbiased manner.
I recommend the book regardless of your views. His writing is fluent, succinct, concise, intelligent, and never boring or dry.
Bacevich writes with intelligence, passion, and clarity, and this book is a thought-provoking and approachable analysis.
The only other military/geopolitical author to move me like this is General Wesley Clark. Famously, Bracevich identifies a theme of hubris mixed with narcissism that dominated the thinking of the group that took us to war in Iraq this time. is blessed with unbelievably patriotic officers and non-commissioned officers, many of whom have written excellent books after retiring from the military. Both taught at West Point. It was the same in ancient Athens following the Greek Golden Age.
Bacevich and Clark are men of action and at the same time brilliant thinkers.The U.S. Interestingly, Author Andrew Bacevich and Wesley Clark have a lot in common. Bacevich retired a colonel, became a Ph.D. This author has credibility.Looking back, we see that civilian leaders, confident of reaping a windfall, voted for "forever war" without deadlines in response to that horrible day, nine-eleven. I've listened five times now to this audiobook and don't know if I'm done yet.
I cannot imagine a more qualified man to deal with such a controversial and emotional subject. Bacevich's work is a constructive self-criticism for the country. True warriors are never fully appreciated when they reveal such intellect. at Princeton and became a professor at Johns Hopkins and now Boston University.
This large set of books reveals military men and women that are deep thinkers, tested in leadership, action and danger. Limits of Power is a seminal book that some lucky high schoolers will discover and become wiser than their peers on international affairs. This is a rare work that grips me and doesn't let go. He gets us to look at ourselves differently. We're never the same after reading/listening to his book. Those of us who were in the military tend more often to gravitate to Bacevich and his intellect than those that never served in this capacity. I know a lot of people are appalled that he, along with all the other military authors except Tommy Franks, has written critically about the political process in DC. A book like this at the right time in life could completely change the course of a young person's life.
Both came out of West Point and are highly decorated war veterans. They will learn to not blindly trust their government anymore and that they are not alone. No other country has anything like it.Bacevich, a Vietnam War veteran, a group loved by most Americans and still not embraced by some, lost his only son in the Iraq War. To some this cancels the extreme patriotism lived an entire life. We now know our thinking military leaders understood what was going on and probably most did not approve. We are not alone in our admiration for Andrew Bacevich and love of his book.If you enjoyed this book, I think you'll appreciate Wesley Clark's: A Time to Lead: For Duty, Honor and Country.
This is one of those books that you'll break out the highlighter for. Solidly written, convincingly argued, and non-partisan. This man makes sense and tells it like it is (and was).
As military officers, we shared an ironic kinship of sorts, each of us demonstrating a peculiar knack for picking the wrong war at the wrong time."Tracing the path that got our country to its current place, he cites failures of leadership at both the political and military level, but identifies the American citizen as the ultimate navigator of the ship. He also lost his son in Iraq.
But, unlike other books that take wide swings at America with little more than misplaced resentment and childish emotion, Bacevich scolds the citizens of America as a wise, but heartbroken father rebuking an out-of-control son.A quick survey of the world geopolitical scene highlights America's increasingly vulnerable position as on overly-extended superpower who's frequent, often clumsy use of military force has done little to win the hearts or minds so frequently cited on PowerPoint slides in Pentagon staff meetings. This philosophical, but precise foreign policy manifesto is a cold, hard slap to American imperialism, selfishness and entitlement.
After serving twenty-three years in the Army he earned a PhD at Princeton then went on to teach at West Point, Johns Hopkins and finally Boston University. Bacevich expresses his "dismay at the direction of the U.S.
foreign policy since the end of the Cold War." And though he offers plenty of critiques regarding the Bush Administration's global ramblings, the thrust of his message is that the crisis extends much deeper and further back in time than a single administration.Bacevich weaves into his narrative the teachings of American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) who "warned that what he called 'our dreams of managing history' -- born of a peculiar combination of arrogance and narcissism -- posed a potentially mortal threat to the United States." This ideology of exceptionalism combined with an ever-growing military-industrial complex have proved a toxic mix.Few understand both the realities of this phenomena with such clarity and conviction as retired Army Colonel and West Point graduate, Andrew Bacevich. Bacevich writes, "In joining the Army, my son was following in his father's footsteps: Before he was born, I had served in Vietnam.
In what is likely that hardest argument for readers to swallow, Bacevich says that it is our insatiable appetite for cheap consumer goods and fossil fuels combined with our penchant for debt that has led to a "tacit agreement" between the citizenry and the government - one which gives a silent nod of approval to our leaders to do whatever is necessary to keep the current culture of "free" consumption running indefinitely.There will be people who don't like this book because of it's critical nature, but with hundreds of thousands of troops spread across the world fighting in the name of American ideals and the national debt passing $12 trillion it's both timely and necessary to hold a mirror up to ourselves as a nation and see if we like what we behold.
With a lot of data Andrew Bacevich is trying to show us the real situation we are in, the flaws of our system, politician and electorate.I hope they will read and listen.A small step in the right direction to impriove our future
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