The violent American century : war and terror since World War II / John W. Dower.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dower, John W., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Violence--United States--History.

Violence.

Terrorism.

History.

Military art and science.

United States.

Military art and science--United States--History.

Terrorism--United States--History.

Physical Description:

xiv, 167 pages ; 20 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago, Illinois : Haymarket Books, 2017.

Summary:

World War II Marked the height of industrialized "total war." Hostilities engulfed the globe. Air war, including the terror bombing of civilians, emerged as a central strategy of the victorious powers. The devastation was catastrophic almost everywhere, with the notable exception of the United States, which emerged from the conflict unscathed and unmatched in power and influence. The Violent American Century addresses the US-led transformations in military strategy and war-making that followed-beginning with proxy wars, continuing with Cold War nuclear terror and ending with the asymmetrical conflicts of today. The American military playbook now combines brute force with a focus on counterrorism, counterinsurgency, clandestine operations, a vast web of overseas military bases, and the fiction of "precision" warfare. The culmination of decades of scholarly research and thoughtful analysis, The Violent American Century provides a devastating critique of American power and a sobering tally of its appalling toll. Book jacket.

Contents:

Measuring violence

Legacies of World War II

Cold War nuclear terror

Cold War wars

Proxy war and surrogate terror

New and old world orders: the 1990s

September 11 and "a new kind of war"

Arcs of instability

The American century at seventy-five.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 127-158) and index.

ISBN:

9781608467235

1608467236

OCLC:

964781763