Monica Duffy Toft and Sidita Kushi’s 2023 book Dying by the Sword is both a work of scholarship and an unflinching indictment. It demolishes the enduring myth of the United States as a hesitant warrior, reluctantly drawn into conflicts by others. Instead, using their...

Scott Horton’s masterpiece “Enough Already” shows how the U.S. and its allies spread devastation through Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and Pakistan, propping up despots and arming extremists along the way. The final balance sheet: two million dead,...

Paul Chamberlin’s masterful new book, Scorched Earth: A Global History of World War II, is a vitally important work that fundamentally reframes our understanding of the twentieth century’s most devastating conflict. It meticulously dismantles the comfortable and...

In Why America Can't Retrench (And How It Might), Peter Harris suggests that America’s worldwide posture is less a strategic choice than a default ingrained in its DNA, where an imperial presidency, a sprawling military-industrial complex, and a political culture...