Description
This is one of the most exciting books I've read in years. Friedberg is putting forth a sweeping and fundamental reassessment of the American military-industrial complex during the Cold War. It is historical revisionism in its very best sense: clearly written, thoroughly documented, and overwhelmingly convincing. Aaron Friedberg will emerge, with this book, as one of those rare scholars whose work redefines an entire field. -- John Lewis Gaddis, Yale University Friedberg offers an important corrective to our tendency to assume that events had to turn out as they did by analyzing why the United States did not turn into a 'garrison state,' as many feared at the start of the Cold War. The research is meticulous, the story fascinating, and Friedberg's explanation in terms of the power of anti-state actors and ideology is convincing. -- Robert Jervis, Columbia University This book will be a major contribution to a number of different literatures: it speaks to the extensive literature on war and state formation by exploring how different state mobilization strategies produce different outcomes. It contributes to the growing history of the Cold War by focusing attention on the important issue of the comparative political economy of defense mobilization... It engages a number of current debates about the impact of domestic ideas, institutions, and regime types upon state behavior. -- Michael Desch, Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, University of Kentucky
About the Author
Aaron L. Friedberg is Professor of Politics and International Affairs and Director of the Research Program in International Security at Princeton University. He is author of The Weary Titan: Britain and the Experience of Relative Decline, 1895-1905 (Princeton).
Reviews
One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2000 "An engaging revisionist history of American society during the Cold War... Friedberg performs a real service: reminding us that democracies do a pretty good job of keeping peace as well."--Victor Davis Hanson, The Weekly Standard "[A] lucid and meticulously documented study... Though Friedberg's close analysis focuses on the period 1945-1960, it provides a framework that also illuminates subsequent events."--Patrick Glynn, Commentary "Friedberg's account of the development of the American military-industrial complex is very convincing precisely because of the way in which he blends institutional and ideational analyses into a single coherent whole. The work is meticulously researched and is a must read for anyone interested in the diplomatic history of the United States."--Virginia Quarterly Review "Essential ... for anyone interested in the history of the American state as well as its future reform."--Andrew P.N. Erdmann, Orbis
Awards
Short-listed for Choice Magazine Outstanding Reference/Academic Book Award 2000.
Book Information
ISBN 9780691048901
Author Aaron L. Friedberg
Format Paperback
Page Count 416
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publisher Princeton University Press
Weight(grams) 567g