Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Max Boot published a critique of the book in "The Weekly Standard" on February 2005. Boot labeled Woods' pro-secessionist views as a "Bizarro world". Boot also criticized Woods for what he saw as ignoring African-Americans' struggle for civil rights and ignoring the fact that Clinton's intervention in the Balkans stopped a potential genocide. Also in February, Libertarian columnist Cathy Young agreed with some of the book's views of free-market economics, but harshly criticized Wood's handling of the topic of slavery: "Unfortunately, whatever solid arguments this book has can only be tainted by association with Woods's ultra-reactionary extremism."