A Force for Good-Mackubin

The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War, by Andrew J. Bacevich (Oxford, 288 pp., $28)

ONE is not normally inclined to pay much attention to a book with the phrase “American militarism” in its title. The charge of “militarism” is too often an all-purpose indictment of American society, meaning as little today as it did when old-style Marxists hurled it. But I happen to know that Andrew Bacevich is a very serious person-and, indeed, The New American Militarism is a very serious book.

About the Author

Mackubin Thomas Owens

Mackubin Thomas Owens is a senior national security fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute , editing its journal Orbis from 2008 to 2020. A Marine Corps infantry veteran of the Vietnam War, he was a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College from 1987 to 2015. He is the author of US Civil–Military Relations after 9/11: Renegotiating the Civil-Military Bargain.

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The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War, by Andrew J. Bacevich (Oxford, 288 pp., $28)

ONE is not normally inclined to pay much attention to a book with the phrase “American militarism” in its title. The charge of “militarism” is too often an all-purpose indictment of American society, meaning as little today as it did when old-style Marxists hurled it. But I happen to know that Andrew Bacevich is a very serious person-and, indeed, The New American Militarism is a very serious book.

About the Author

Mackubin Thomas Owens

Mackubin Thomas Owens is a senior national security fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute , editing its journal Orbis from 2008 to 2020. A Marine Corps infantry veteran of the Vietnam War, he was a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College from 1987 to 2015. He is the author of US Civil–Military Relations after 9/11: Renegotiating the Civil-Military Bargain.