Dibs

With the revealing subtitle The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power, this is essentially an expanded rewrite of Smedley Butler’s 1935 anti-war pamphlet War Is a Racket. Carroll traces the history of the Pentagon, and the entire military apparatus of the United States — working on the fundamental assumption that all of America’s enemies throughout history were either illusory or could have been mollified through diplomacy. As expected, he comes to the conclusion that, well, “war is a racket,” a scheme to make money for armament manufacturers. Unreconstructed peace-at-all-costs-niks will deliriously devour every word and footnote of this 650-page tome; realpolitikos will find themselves snorting in derision and shaking their heads in disagreement. And, jumping on the memoirization fad found in every corner of the book trade these days, Carroll also traces his own personal connection to the Pentagon — playing in its hallways as a child, then growing up to join antiwar protests as an outsider — which actually turns out to be the most interesting part of the book. Otherwise: for hardcore political obsessives only.

Grade: C