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The Icarus Syndrome: A History Of American Hubris (2010)

by Peter Beinart(Favorite Author)

3.9 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0061456462 (ISBN13: 9780061456466)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

HarperTorch

review 1: I like Beinart's writing style a lot. Whereas something like Kinzer's "Overthrow" is more of a traditional history of American hegemony, this is an intellectual history, detailing the personalities and the lines of thinking that influenced American foreign intervention in the past hundred years. Great insights into every presidential administration since Wilson. The conclusion is a little weak, but there's a lot of good stuff in here.
review 2: Peter Beinart firmly places himself in the liberal camp in terms of politics, yet presents us with a tome that chronicles the rise of hubris of the United States that seems to have some conservative elements to it in terms of who built up the hubris (liberals LBJ and Woodrow Wilson). The book is named for Icarus, who in ... morehis foolishness, fly too high toward the sun and came crashing back down to earth. Beinhart labels three times in history that hubris has cost us here in the America, the time after World War I, the Vietnam era and the still-going-on (as of this writing) events in Iraq that has cost us an incredible amount of money and soldier's lives. The theme is that America cannot solve all of the world's problems by force alone and that diplomacy is critical in smoothing relations between powers in the world. Beinart does a yeoman's job of carrying us along the road of hubris from 1914 to present day. Yet, I cannot help to wonder why he would qualify LBJ's actions in Vietnam in terms of his agony in making decisions while he excoriates George W. Bush more strongly while he is being portrayed as being nonchalant in his actions in Iraq. LBJ by far was much more clever than Beinart seems to believe. LBJ should have known better than to get us into the quagmire of Vietnam. Bush on the other hand was not the brightest bulb to occupy the White House and led us into Iraq being more ignorant. I would have made LBJ more accountable for his actions, actions of which has led us down the path to slow economic decline through his guns and butter policies. Nevertheless, Beinart makes the point that America can no longer be the savior of the world, a statement that should be well heeded in today's global environment in our present economic condition.The book contains almost 400 pages with a substantive amount of endnotes and an index. A worthy read for those interested in why we are in the condition we are today. less

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