The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism
by Andrew Bacevich
List Price:
Our Price: $6.00
You Save: $8.00 (57%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.48 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Andrew BacevichEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-04-27
ISBN: 0805090169
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Book Reviews of The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism
Book Review: Sharp critique of America by a non-partisan pragmatist
Summary: 5 Stars
Boston University professor Andrew Bacevich has written a sharp non-partisan critique which speaks truth to power. He sees a tendency for the US to become enmeshed in a seemingly never-ending "long war" as he describes it, and doesn't blame any one particular party or president, although he skewers many past presidents.
While I agree with much of his thinking, sometimes he doesn't nail down his argument (but he's still right, generally.) For example, he sees American foreign policy as "an outward manifestation of American domestic ambitions, urges and fears", and suggests that domestic dysfunction CAUSES foreign policy blunders. This seems too strong. I see correlations (not cause-and-effect relations) between domestic dysfunction and foreign policy blunders, and both are, in my view, symptoms of deeper, more pervasive forces underlying our decaying democracy. I don't see how people shopping excessively causes foreign policy weakness (with perhaps two exceptions: (1) oil addiction indirectly funds Middle Eastern extremist groups (2) excessive purchase of consumer goods from China possibly undermines American manufacturing capacity.)
I see a consensus emerging that America's woes can not be solved by partisans from left or right, but that problems are deeper and more dangerous. Powerful non-partisan thinkers are contributing from different angles to a tough critique of America. These critics have TEETH. Along with Dr. Bacevich, read Dana D. Nelson's excellent "Bad For Democracy" who argues that the presidency, itself, is undemocratic, and that people have reduced their role as citizens to doing the minimal task of voting for president every four years -- that's all people do -- which isn't enough to sustain a democracy, she argues. Further, check out Kevin R. C. Gutzman's "Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution", a sharp non-partisan look at constitutional law. Bacevich's critique hammers away from the foreign policy and military analysis angle, and there is substantial agreement with Benjamin Ginsberg's brilliant "The American Lie" regarding American political corruption.
Bacevich was influenced significantly by a thinker from the 1930s through 1960s named Reinhold Niebuhr, who saw in America an unrealistic tendency to think we can manage history. Good fortune and pre-eminence made the US susceptible to self-adulation, thought Niebuhr. He counseled realism. He saw American culture as having a tendency to equate happiness with comfort. Bacevich echoes these concerns, and sees America as insisting that the world maintain it's spendthrift lifestyle by providing cheap oil, cheap credit, cheap consumer goods. But over-spending erodes American power as we become dependent on foreigners. The worship of freedom brings a mixed blessing, writes Bacevich, because it undercuts the nation's ability to fulfill its own commitments. We court bankruptcy. Our economic crisis? Cultural crisis? Political crisis? They're all of our own making, he writes. To support the American way of life, we've used military power as a crutch to support an American imperium.
Bacevich argues persuasively that American power has its limits. We can't continue to spend huge sums on preventive wars without weakening the nation's economy, and an afterword (written January 2009) discusses the current economic meltdown in this regard.
I somewhat disagree with Professor Bacevich about the economics underpinning American decline. I think economic activity is like a wind summoned by hunger for goods and services, stoked by wily inventors and creative business wizards, that envelops a region of the world when conditions are right (capital, legal foundations, demographics), and when it blows strong for decade after decade, people get wealthy. But with this newfound prosperity comes laziness and inertia, an affection for doing things the same old way, a rigidity. So the winds of commerce won't last forever -- they find a new place and blow there. Prosperity undoes itself. And I think America has had it's time in the wind, but now the winds of commerce are shifting to Asia, and there's not much that can be done to steer them back. I don't think America's economic troubles were CAUSED by excessive spending or freedom, as Professor Bacevich suggests, but are natural cycles that come and go.
But I agree that foreign policy blunders, such as Vietnam and the second Gulf War, as well as excessive regulation and corruption, can cost dearly and hasten economic stagnation. That the US has run out of oil isn't so much its own fault but rather the result of its location. The American continents, as Jared Diamond points out in "Guns, Germs & Steel", are oriented north-to-south, while the larger landmass of Europe & Asia & Africa is oriented east to west. Since there is much more territory for the growth of different species along this west-east axis of the Eurasian landmass, more animals lived there, and died -- which turned into oil. So naturally the Middle East has the largest reserves of oil. And oil is such an amazing fuel with so many uses that I find it hard to blame Americans for learning to exploit it in many different ways for work and pleasure. Too bad we're not on top of it.
Bacevich criticizes the Joint Chiefs of Staff, most recent presidents, Congress (essentially an "incumbent party" he writes, with their main focus on re-electing themselves.) We live in the age of the permanent national security crisis. He thinks changing presidents won't help much; I agree. He writes: "Counting on the next president to fix whatever is broken promotes expectations of easy, no-cost cures, permitting ordinary citizens to absolve themselves of responsibility for the nation's predicament." He notes if the US no longer needed mideast oil, then many in the Pentagon would lose their jobs, military bases would close, and the Navy's Fifth Fleet would stand down. To prevent terrorism, Bacevich wants to contain Islamic extremism and keep it from spreading with more intensive surveillance of Islamic activity as well as multilateral police efforts. He doesn't specify how this might be accomplished. I still think my strategy to prevent terrorism (below) is steel-tough. He writes: Americans must stop thinking they can tutor Muslims in matters related to freedom; I agree. He writes: Let Muslims discover Islam's shortcomings for themselves; I agree. He favors abolishing nuclear weapons since conventional weapons are becoming increasingly powerful and better able to deter a nuclear-armed nation; I was not convinced here. He favors expensive research to find energy alternatives; again, I wasn't convinced here.
Overall, a powerful critique by a shrewd and ballsy high-octane thinker highly critical of American exceptionalism. I think America is broken politically and that the ONLY way to restore it is with a Second Constitutional Convention. I think Dr. Bacevich is one of the few Americans smart enough with sufficient integrity to be a delegate to this Convention. I call him to be a delegate. So far, he has not responded, but I continue to urge him to attend. Last, this is a must read book. Five stars!!!
Thomas W. Sulcer
author of Common Sense II: How to Prevent the Three Types of Terrorism (Amazon/Kindle)
free now on the Internet: paste "common sense II" "sulcer" "google knol" into your search bar
Summary of The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism
?Andrew Bacevich speaks truth to power, no matter who?s in power, which may be why those of both the left and right listen to him.??Bill Moyers
An immediate New York Times bestseller, The Limits of Power offers an unparalleled examination of the profound triple crisis facing America: an economy in disarray that can no longer be fixed by relying on expansion abroad; a government transformed by an imperial presidency into a democracy in name only; and an engagement in endless wars that has severely undermined the body politic.
Writing with knowledge born of experience, conservative historian and former military officer Andrew J. Bacevich argues that if the nation is to solve its predicament, it will need the revival of a distinctly American approach: the neglected tradition of realism. In contrast to the multiple illusions that have governed American policy since 1945, he calls for respect for power and its limits; aversion to claims of exceptionalism; skepticism of easy solutions, especially those involving force; and a conviction that Americans must live within their means. Only a return to such principles, Bacevich eloquently argues, can provide common ground for fixing America?s urgent problems before the damage becomes irreparable.
Public Policy Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Public Policy Books
Atmospheric Justice: A Political Theory of Climate Changeby Steve Vanderheiden
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-04-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $41.85
Price in other shops:
The Quality of Growthby Vinod Thomas, Mansoor Dailami, Ashok Dhareshwar, Ramon E. Lopez, Yan Wang, Nalin Kishor, Daniel Kaufmann
World Bank Publications; Published: 2000-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.70
Price in other shops:
World Development Report 1999/ 2000: Entering the 21st Century-Development World Bank (published for World Bank by Oxford University Press)by World Bank
World Bank Publications; Published: 1999-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.95
Price in other shops:
Regulating TobaccoOxford University Press, USA; Published: 2001-10-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops:
Gun Violence : The Real Costsby Philip J. Cook, Jens Ludwig
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2000-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.59
Price in other shops:
The Politics of National Security: Congress and U.S. Defense Policy (Twentieth Century Fund Book)by Barry M. Blechman
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1992-07-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.90
Price in other shops:
United States Code, 2000, V. 24: Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, Sections 7701-EndOffice of the Law Revision Counsel; Published: 2002-07-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.99
Price in other shops:
Management of Valueby Office of Government Commerce
The Stationery Office; Published: 2010-04-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $73.12
Price in other shops:
Global Change Scenarios of the 21st Century: Results from the IMAGE 2.1 ModelPergamon; Published: 1999-02-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $156.95
Price in other shops:
Higher Education Research And Public Policy: (American Council on Education Oryx Press Series on Higher Education)by Lars G. Bjork, Manuel J. Justiz
American Council on Education; Published: 1988-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $39.95
Similar Books and other products
The Future of Powerby Joseph S. Nye Jr.
PublicAffairs; Published: 2011-12-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.65
Price in other shops:
The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862by Carol Sheriff
Hill and Wang; Published: 1997-06-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.50
Price in other shops:
The Machine in America: A Social History of Technologyby Carroll Pursell
The Johns Hopkins University Press; Published: 2007-01-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.46
Price in other shops:
The Post-American World: Release 2.0by Fareed Zakaria
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2011-05-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.04
Price in other shops:
An All-Consuming Centuryby Gary Cross
Columbia University Press; Published: 2002-04-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.83
Price in other shops:
The Genesis of Industrial America, 1870-1920 (Cambridge Essential Histories)by Maury Klein
Cambridge University Press; Published: 2007-09-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.99
Price in other shops:
The Organic Machine: The Remaking of the Columbia River (Critical Issue Book)by Richard White
Hill and Wang; Published: 1996-01-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.06
Price in other shops:
Woodrow Wilsonby H. W. Brands
Times Books; Published: 2003-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.40
Price in other shops:
The Specter of Communism: The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1917-1953 (Critical Issue)by Melvyn P. Leffler
Hill and Wang; Published: 1994-10-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.25
Price in other shops:
Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War (American Empire Project)by Andrew Bacevich
Metropolitan Books; Published: 2010-08-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.96
Price in other shops: