The
Sorrows of Empire
By: Chalmers
Johnson
Posted December 22, 2003
thepeoplesvoice.org
Published by Metropolitan Books,
Henry Holt and Company, LLC henryholt.com/metropolitanbooks
(ISBN: 0-8050-7004-4) $25.00 US $36.95 CAN
From
the author of the prophetic national bestseller Blowback,
a startling look at militarism, American-style, and its consequences
abroad and at home.
In the years after the Soviet Union imploded, the United States was
described as the globe's “lone superpower,” then as a “reluctant
sheriff,” next as the “indispensable nation,” and, in the wake of
9/11, as a “New Rome.” Here, Chalmers Johnson
thoroughly explores the new militarism that is transforming America and
compelling its people to pick up the burden of empire.
Reminding us of the classic warnings against militarism—from George
Washington's farewell address, to Dwight Eisenhower's denunciation of the
military-industrial complex—Johnson uncovers its roots deep in our past.
Turning to the present, he maps America's expanding empire of military bases
and the vast web of services that support them. He offers a vivid look at
the new caste of professional militarists who have infiltrated multiple
branches of government, who classify as “secret” everything they do, and
for whom the manipulation of the military budget is of vital interest.
Among Johnson's provocative conclusions is that American militarism is
already putting an end to the age of globalization, and bankrupting the
United States even as it creates the conditions for a new century of
virulent blow-back. The Sorrows of Empire suggests that the former
American republic has already crossed its Rubicon—with the Pentagon in the
lead. Advance
Praise for The Sorrows of Empire
-
”In
a Blowback, published before ‘September 11,’ Chalmers Johnson
introduced us to a chilling code word for our times. The Sorrows of
Empire is even more sobering, for it associates the United States
with a dynamic most Americans still find unmentionable—our
ever-deepening militarism, with all the sorrows of perpetual war and the
moral as well as political and economic bankruptcy that inevitably
accompany it. Here is a scholar's critique and a patriot’s cry,
presented with unflinching courage.”—John W. Dower, author of Embracing
Defeat, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
-
”Chalmers
Johnson's searing indictment of America's flirtation with an imperial
foreign policy should be required reading for all concerned citizens.
One need not agree with all of his arguments to conclude that The
Sorrows of Empire is an extremely important and disturbing the
book.”—Ted Galen Carpenter, vice president, Defense and Foreign
Policy Studies, Cato Institute
-
”Since
the mainstream media have abdicated their responsibility to be watchdogs
of government and to serve the public, books like The Sorrows of
Empire are essential if we are to defend ourselves against the
military industrial congressional complex.”—Janeane Garofalo
-
”Johnson's
new book is a stunner. He blows away the Defense Department's cover
story that our empire of military bases exists to support humanitarian
intervention. Something funny is happening on the way to the American
forum: citizens are discovering they have an empire they never
wanted—paid for in casualties with civil liberties the first
victim.”—Patrick Lloyd Hatcher, U.S. Army colonel (retired), author
of The Suicide of any Elite: American Internationalists and Vietnam
-
”Chalmers
Johnson is a legendary scholar…. In this cri de coeur, he asks us to
grasp, before it's too late, that America's modern militarist empire
threatens to destroy the democratic republic. His analysis is powerful
and dreadfully persuasive.”—William Greider, author of The
Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy
-
”There
is no more important book to read than The Sorrows of Empire.
Like Rome, the United States today is struggling with the consequences
of a permanent global military engagement, from which self-dealing
political elites derive great benefits at the expense and ultimately the
survival of America's heretofore resilient republic.”—Steven C.
Clemens, executive vice president, New American Foundation
-
”Chalmers
Johnson's relentless logic, authoritative scholarship, and eloquently
biting prose distinguish The Sorrows of Empire, like all his
other work. Anyone who reads it will have a much sharper sense of the
costs of America's new world-girdling commitments—and I hope it is
widely read.”—James Fallows, author of Breaking the News
About the Author
Chalmers
Johnson, president of the Japan Policy Research Institute and Professor
emeritus at the University of California, San Diego, is a frequent
contributor to the Los Angeles Times and The Nation. His
previous books include MITI and the Japanese Miracle and Japan: Who
governs? He lives near San Diego.
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