Description |
xiv, 657 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits, ; 25 cm |
Contents |
One week in 1943 -- The absolute weapon -- The cold war begins -- Self-fulfilling paranoia -- The turning point -- The exorcism -- Upstream -- Unending war -- New world order |
Summary |
This landmark, myth-shattering work chronicles the most powerful institution in America, the people who created it, and the pathologies it has spawned. Carroll proves a controversial thesis: the Pentagon has, since its founding, operated beyond the control of any force in government or society. It is the biggest, loosest cannon in American history, and no institution has changed this country more. To argue his case, he marshals a trove of often chilling evidence. He recounts how "the Building" and its denizens achieved what Eisenhower called "a disastrous rise of misplaced power"--from the unprecedented aerial bombing of Germany and Japan during World War II to the "shock and awe" of Iraq. He charts the colossal U.S. nuclear buildup, which far outpaced that of the USSR and has outlived it. He reveals how consistently the Building has found new enemies just as old threats--and funding--evaporate. He demonstrates how Pentagon policy brought about U.S. indifference to an epidemic of genocide during the 1990s. And he shows how the forces that attacked the Pentagon on 9/11 were set in motion exactly sixty years earlier, on September 11, 1941, when ground was broken for the house of war |
Analysis |
United States |
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US Dept of Defense |
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Power (International relations) |
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Militarism |
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Arms proliferation |
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Defence policy |
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History, 1901-1999 |
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History, 2000- |
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Overseas item |
Notes |
Includes index |
Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references: pages [609]-623 |
Subject |
United States. Department of Defense.
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Pentagon (Arlington, Va.)
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Pentagon (Va.)
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Militarism -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
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Militarism -- United States -- History -- 21st century.
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Arms race -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
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Arms race -- United States -- History -- 21st century.
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SUBJECT |
United States -- Military policy.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140379
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ISBN |
1920769889 hardback |
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9781920769888 hardback |
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