Washington Rules - Andrew Bacevich

This is an outstanding and very important book. 

Every American should read "Washington Rules". The author examines the causes and consequences of  American "wars" and  then describes how our culture evolved until the current time. Today, after reading this book,  we realize that "war" has become a normal American condition. 

"Washington Rules" describes the effect of overwhelming national power. The book explains how this inevitably has lead to the presumption that only the most powerful nation knows how to govern others. The book contends that Americans have harnessed so much power that it has resulted in the current attitude of arrogance in relation to all other nations. Mr. Bacevich uses clear reasoning, good logic, and careful words to describe how American dominance happened . . .  and then (after World War II), began to subside. 

"Washington Rules" is fascinating to read and difficult to argue with. It has convinced me that our government has gone astray, and that our national ability to evaluate other nations is basically from only one perspective, ours. This one sided view often leads us to make incorrect assumptions and to impose the wrong solutions to various national problems. 


America is not perfect and the author pulls no punches as he describes why. Unlike Chalmers Johnson's book "Nemisis", Andrew Bacevich manages to do this without wild and foolish anti-American rants.