The United States of War

The United States has been fighting wars constantly since invading Afghanistan in 2001. This nonstop warfare is far less exceptional than it might seem: the United States has been at war or has invaded other countries almost every year since independence. In&#160;<I>The United States of War,</I> David Vine traces this pattern of bloody conflict from Columbus&rsquo;s 1494 arrival in Guantanamo Bay through the 250-year expansion of a global US empire. Drawing on historical and firsthand anthropological research in fourteen countries and territories, <I>The United States of War</I> demonstrates how US leaders across generations have locked the United States in a self-perpetuating system of permanent war by constructing the world&rsquo;s largest-ever collection of foreign military bases&mdash;a global matrix that has made offensive interventionist wars more likely. Beyond exposing the profit-making desires, political interests, racism, and toxic masculinity underlying the country&rsquo;s relationship to war and empire, <I>The United States of War</I> shows how the long history of U.S. military expansion shapes our daily lives, from today&rsquo;s multi-trillion&ndash;dollar wars to the pervasiveness of violence and militarism in everyday U.S. life. The book concludes by confronting the catastrophic toll of American wars&mdash;which have left millions dead, wounded, and displaced&mdash;while offering proposals for how we can end the fighting.<BR /> &#160;