War and Empire: The American Way of Life: Paul L. Atwood: 9780745327648: Amazon.com: Books

War and Empire: The American Way of Life: Paul L. Atwood: 9780745327648: Amazon.com: Books





War and Empire: The American Way of Life Paperback – March 2, 2010
by Paul L. Atwood (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 6 customer reviews

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Editorial Reviews



In this provocative study, Paul Atwood attempts to show Americans that their history is one of constant wars of aggression and imperial expansion. In his long teaching career, Atwood has found that most students know virtually nothing about America's involvement in the wars of the 20th century, let alone those prior to World War I. War and Empire aims to correct this, clearly and persuasively explaining US actions in every major war since the declaration of independence. The book shows that, far from being dragged reluctantly into foreign entanglements, America's leaders have always picked their battles in order to increase its influence and power, with little regard for those killed in the process. This book is an eye-opening introduction to the American way of life for undergraduate students of American history, politics and international relations.



Product details

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Pluto Press (March 11, 2010)
Language: English
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Customer Reviews
4.6 out of 5 stars
6
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Top customer reviews

J. Reeves
5.0 out of 5 starsDepressing, essential, no going back to fantasy land about the goodness of America bookNovember 20, 2017
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

Really difficult book to read because you don't want to believe it. If the author is unbiased in assessing the motivations, and the results of much of American history, then the case for America being not the greatest nation in the world but the worst nation is very strong. One has to be sadly impressed by America's ability to lie, deceive, bs and bully (or kill) so many mostly in the name of power and money for a few. Sadly I think the country for all its noble ideas and words at its foundation is fatally flawed. One can't be so hypocritical and be a success in any good way. The writing is strong and courageous. I wondered about the authors motivations or agenda but in his conclusion it seems he's trying to set the record straight, is as disillusioned as anyone would be under the real circumstances and hopes something better can come from helping people see what really happened.

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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 starsA good read, goes quicklyApril 28, 2017
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

A good read, goes quickly. He documents American imperialism well. I thought he went a little overboard in just a few spots in overdoing his accusations: for example, just how much the U.S. knew about the Pearl Harbor attack in advance (highly disputed but presented here as if there is no question about it) and on the start of the Korean War, but all in all an excellent review of how America became an empire and how the government has pushed its agenda. I read a great deal of history but still learned a few things. Recommended.

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Mangolia
5.0 out of 5 starsThe Untold HistoryFebruary 23, 2013
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase

This is not the story as taught by my elementary school teachers. The book is well written and interesting from front to back covers. A must read for anyone interested in better understanding the context underlying the current domestic and international conflicts, and the quickly evolving geopolitical situation in the world.

8 people found this helpful

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Dr. Ludwig Watzal
5.0 out of 5 starsUnited States: The War Nation par ExcellenceJune 16, 2013
Format: Paperback

Former US President Ronald Reagan called in a speech to the "National Association of Evangelicals" in Orlando, Florida in 1983 the former Soviet Union an evil empire". Having read War and Empire" by Paul L. Atwood this characterization fits perfectly well to US-American foreign policy. What the author presents to the reader makes one shiver.

Starting out as a nation born in the fight against British colonialism, the US has become the world largest imperial power. The US does not only wage two neocolonial wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in the later together with Nato, but it has also military bases in 141 states and 11 territories, out of 191 states comprising the United Nations. American arms patrol all the seas and skies, including outer space. This is not enough, the Pentagon declares flatly that it wants to achieve nothing less than full-spectrum dominance" over any potential foe in the future.

When former US President George W. Bush stated that Muslims might hate the US because of they hate freedom and American values, he was totally wrong. If Muslims hate at all the US, it would be solely for their brutal occuption of Muslim countries and their double standards in international affairs, especially towards their "albatross-like ally, Israel" as the autor calls it. After 9/11 the majority of Americans demanded revenge. President Bush initially called for a "crusade" against Muslims. Attacking Afghanistan was not enough.

Paul L. Atwood, Senior Lecturer at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, set the record stright right from the beginning: The US is not a peace-loving nation that will avoid violence at all costs. On the contrary, "War is the American way of life." Every American schoolchild cut its teeth learning that "the United States represents principles and values that are the only hope of a rational, orderly, just and peaceful society". This template for current policies and war was set before the Founders rebelled against their government, writes Atwood. It appears like that: "we are a people apart, exceptional and singled out by God or Destiny to redeem humanity". Ideologically, the US government support to a morality "that defends self-determination universally and for all". The author writes "that assertion is mainly honored in its breach".

American history exemplifies that the US lives by the sword in order to "seek peace". Several chapters of Adwood's book deal with conquest of the American continent, which was not limited to slaughtering the indigenous Indian population but by defeating the British, French, and the Spanish colonial powers. The conquest of the American continent was marked by aggression, extreme brutality, genocide and 'ethnic cleansing`". Since the US emerged from World War II as the most potent nation in history, it "slaughtered millions (...) the vast majority being helpless civilians". The proclamation of "A New American Century" by the neo-conservative ideologues of the Bush administration depends on maintaining control of the critical fuel necessary to power the American economy and its massive military machine that now straddles the globe". In 1992, the outline for this "New American Century" was laid down by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Paul Wolfowitz. He crafted a Defense Policy Guidance which became the policy template of the neo-conservative manifesto under the Bush government. The basic thrust constitutes the so-called Bush doctrine, which called for actions to ensure the status of the US as the sole world power able to shape the global system to serve American geo-political interests. In order to uphold American hegemony the US should be prepared to act unilaterally and pre-emptively against any power that could undermine US dominance.

In the chapter entitled "war on terror" Atwood describes the close cooperation that took place between the US and Mujahideens after the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. The CIA recuited up to 50,000 Muslim volunteers from around the world, trained them und supplied them with weapons. Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was President Jimmy Carter's National Security Advicer, puts matters pluntly in his book "The Grand Chessboard". "Now we can give the USSR its Vietnam War." The US designated at the time the Mujahideens "freedom fighters" that valiantly resisted Soviet occupation. Today the US calls the Taliban who resist the occupation of Afghanistan "terrorists". The author rejects the idealistic rhetoric of freedom and democracy with which the US tries to justify its policies of aggressions against the Muslime world. The interventions are directed against China and Russia. The US wants to prevent China from becoming a superpower, writes the author.

Atwood's statement that "war is the american way of life", is based on his determination that the military-industrial complex "has developed a vested interest in a permanent state of tension and preparation for war". The history of the US demonstrates "when the US prepares for war it usually goes to war", writes the author. According to Atwood, a "National Security State requires enemies and it functions to create them and then exploits that manufactured state of affairs to promote further actions in the name of national security." The author does not think that terrorism is an existential threat to the US but warns that "the continued US armed intervention in the Muslim world shows every indication of promoting just that". The book provides a deep insight into the real motives for the last empire's policies of aggression, policies which will probably lead to its self-destruction.

Dr. Ludwig Watzal works as a journalist and editor in Bonn, Germany.
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R. N. Cable
5.0 out of 5 starsAntidote to "Disney version" American HistoryMay 5, 2010
Format: Paperback

This concise, powerfully written and densely documented "alternative interpretation of the American past" from Captain John Smith at Jamestown (1609) to President Barack Obama today unreservedly gets five stars! Paul Atwood, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and son of a WWII Marine combatant evidently has concluded from his experience, as did two-time Medal of Honor winner USMC Maj. Gen. Smedley D. Butler in 1933, that "War is a racket. The few profit--the many pay."

Or as Atwood concludes in his Preface, "every war in the American past was at bottom a matter of choice, not, as our national ideology proclaims, a necessity. War has never made the world safe for peace but only for more war."

Atwood's quarter-century career at the University of Massachusetts at Boston has been a passionate, professional attempt to demonstrate this fact to students from "the United States of Amnesia" (in Gore Vidal's characterization); and this book is a clear and convincing exposition of his thesis which he amplifies first in the 16-page "Introduction: American Ideology versus American Realities." The 10 main chapters then compellingly unfold under a series of summarizing rubrics. (View the "Contents" pages at this website.) Illustrations and maps are absent in this book; but the narrative is crystal clear and engaging without them. This overview of American history is thoroughly referenced in 16 pages of Notes based on a Bibliography of over 100 volumes.

"War and Empire" concisely complements "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn (Atwood's graduate thesis advisor). It concentrates on U.S. foreign policy rather than domestic history but illustrates how financial and military-industrial interests have consistently used ideology and propaganda to create and exaggerate foreign threats and thus overcome popular opposition to war and empire.

 Atwood's 9-page "Conclusion" observes that "The term 'democracy' is employed constantly to imply that it actually exists, yet the republican form of government allows only the merest voice for most citizens while ensuring that real power is concentrated in the hands of insider elites, drawn primarly from corporate America, who maneuver the levers of rule to serve their own interests first." He illustrates how this continues to be true under the Obama administration.

The author, Marine Corps veteran and academic veteran Paul Atwood, is "gung ho" about the true history of America as opposed to the common, mythological one. In "War and Empire" he passionately and bravely but professionally distills the knowledge of many scholars and the wisdom of his own experience and research in order to enlighten readers and warn them that "Terrorism is not an existential threat to the United States, though another global war will be; and the continued U.S. armed intervention in the Muslim world shows every indication of promoting just that."

Read this book for serious enlightenment regarding our national history. Read it for motivation to change that trajectory so there will continue to be a history for our children and grandchildren.
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