House of war : the Pentagon and the disastrous rise of American power / James Carroll.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Carroll, James, 1943-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Arms race.

History.

Militarism.

United States--Military policy.

United States.

Military policy.

Pentagon (Va.).

United States. Department of Defense.

Militarism--United States--History--20th century.

Militarism--United States--History--21st century.

Arms race--United States--History--20th century.

Arms race--United States--History--21st century.

Physical Description:

xiv, 657 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co., 2006.

Summary:

In this book, Carroll advances a controversial thesis: the Pentagon has, since its founding, operated beyond the control of any force in government or society. It is the loosest cannon in American history, and no institution has changed this country more. He marshals a trove of often chilling evidence, recounting how "the Building" and its denizens achieved what Eisenhower called "a disastrous rise of misplaced power"--from the unprecedented bombing of Germany and Japan during World War II to the "shock and awe" of Iraq. He charts the 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 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.--From publisher description.

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.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [609]-623) and index.

ISBN:

0618187804

OCLC:

61353007

Publisher Number:

9780618187805

Online:

Publisher description