Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power
The #1 New York Times bestseller that charts America's dangerous drift into a state of perpetual war. Written with bracing wit and intelligence, Rachel Maddow's Drift argues that we've drifted away from America's original ideals and become a nation weirdly at peace with perpetual war. To understand how we've arrived at such a dangerous place, Maddow takes us from the Vietnam War to today's war in Afghanistan, along the way exploring Reagan's radical presidency, the disturbing rise of executive authority, the gradual outsourcing of our war-making capabilities to private companies, the plummeting percentage of American families whose children fight our constant wars for us, and even the changing fortunes of G.I. Joe. Ultimately, she shows us just how much we stand to lose by allowing the scope of American military power to overpower our political discourse. Sensible yet provocative, dead serious yet seriously funny, Drift reinvigorates a "loud and jangly" political debate about our vast and confounding national security state.
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Community Reviews
Let me just start by saying that while I'm certainly a Leftie, I'm actually no great fan of Rachel Maddow. The details aren't relevant here, but I don't find her show compelling or particularly informative. That said, I did appreciate this book. There is wide room for non-partisan agreement on the mission creep and bloat that have become such a prominent feature of America's military, and Maddow stays well within this common ground. Her analysis is solid, if not overly deep. I suppose I can't speak to whether it's balanced, because I'm as likely as she to ascribe pretty sinister motivations to Ronald Reagan and Dick Cheney. But her assertions are backed with verifiable facts, and she lays out quite an informed/informative case. She does seem to promise a prospective solution, however, and doesn't deliver on that. Still, well worth a read.
Great, concise overview of why the U.S. can so easily go to and stay at "war." She does a fantastic job with her research and logic flow, and doesn't pull punches with any administration, regardless of political leanings.
The most terrifying revelation of reading this book today (2018) is the number of similarities between the early Reagan administration and what we're seeing today with Trump. Honestly, this is the first book where I've felt compelled to take notes in the margin. So many great points I want to research further. I hope she does an update to this in the years to come.
The most terrifying revelation of reading this book today (2018) is the number of similarities between the early Reagan administration and what we're seeing today with Trump. Honestly, this is the first book where I've felt compelled to take notes in the margin. So many great points I want to research further. I hope she does an update to this in the years to come.
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