State vs. Defense
Subtitle: the battle to define America's empire
By: Stephen Glain
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Crown Publishers
Published: 2011
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 485
ISBN-13: 9780307408419
Subjects: Cold War; Radicalism; 20th century; 21st century; Economic conditions; Military policy; Foreign relations; Islam
Description: An account of how sixty years of American militarism created the Cold War, fanned decades of unnecessary conflict, helped to fuel Islamist terror, and threatens to bankrupt the country. For most of the twentieth century, the sword has led before the olive branch in American foreign policy. Here, author Stephen Glain shows how America truly operates as a superpower, and explores the constant tension between the diplomats at State and the warriors at Defense. The price of America's national security state is well over $1 trillion--more than 20 percent of the federal budget. By comparison, China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, and North Korea, the five countries Pentagon planners routinely cite as threats, have a cumulative security budget of just over $200 billion. Quietly, gradually, the Pentagon has all but eclipsed the State Department at the center of U.S. foreign policy, and the republic has been lost to an empire.--From publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Archetype; title: The wages of fear; title: Seeing reds; title: Inside job; title: Rogue Orientalists; title: Treaty-port yanks; title: War for peace; title: Looking-glass war; title: Madmen; title: Interregnum; title: 1983; title: Endgame; title: Reformation; title: The weight of peace; title: Denouement.