Masters of War

Few United States citizens conceive of their country as an empire, but, as the contributors to Masters of War convincingly argue, the U.S. legacy of military power runs long and deep. Often mobilized in the name of spreading democracy, maintaining international order, and creating the conditions for economic self-determination, constantly expanding global U.S. military power is difficult to characterize as anything but an imperialism bent on global domination. However, at the same time that the U.S. government hawks rhetoric of human rights and national sovereignty, its dominion has begun breeding widespread resistance and opposition likely to make the twenty-first century an era marked by sustained, and generally unanticipated, blowback. Presenting a wide range of essays by some of the anti-war movement's most vocal and incisive critics, Masters of War reminds us that worldwide economic and military dominance has its price, both globally and domestically.

"Masters of War is a wide-ranging, coherent, and critical account of the 'war on terrorism' and post-9/11 foreign policy. It gives you the whole picture -- you get the war on Afghanistan, the weaponization of space, the quest for oil dominance, and the patriarchal militarization of culture, all placed in a larger imperial context. If you want to go beyond the headlines and the sound-bites, buy this book." -- Rahul Mahajan, author of Full SpectrumDominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond and The NewCrusade: America's War on Terrorism"This is an excellent collection of articles on the crucial question of U.S. militarism, its impact abroad and within the US itself, and its relationship to imperialism. Over the last several years it has become clear that the threat to peace and social justice lies not only in corporate globalization, but in the vastly disproportionate military and economic power of the U.S., and the willingness of a political elite to use that power ruthlessly. Despite the urgency of this question, little has been written on it. This collection begins to fill this gap. These articles address many facets of U.S. expansionism and militarism, and show how both undermine democracy here and abroad." -- Barbara Epstein, History of Consciousness Department, UC-Santa Cruz and co-editor of Striking Terror: America's New War"The main value of this book lies in its articulating a perspective on post September 11th America that is an important counter-weight to the usual views we get from the mainstream publications and pundits in this country." -- Journal of Psychohistory

Carl Boggs is Professor of Social Sciences at National University in Los Angeles. He is the author of numerous publications including The End of Politics: CorporatePower and the Decline of the Public Sphere.