The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism

This is a nihilistic work finding fault with every sector of the American society, making no helpful recommendations. I made 2 mistakes, buying,@but even worse, reading it

I purchased this book after seeing an interview with Dr. Bacevich on C-span.

The insight provided by the author reveals the devious and often incompetent strategies and actions of our leaders throughout our history.

Our propensity for using military might rather than diplomacy is outlined and has a much longer history than one might suspect.

It is compelling reading and I am about to buy more of the author's books which I will share with my grandsons.

Our illusions of grandeur driven by greed have caused us to reach beyond our grasp thus all the foreign policy disasters. The author urges Americans to a wake up and see reality as he and Reinhold Niebuhr see it and create a "nonimperial foreign policy" (assuming we have curbed our greed). This smaller more modest foreign policy would feature a "new" strategy of containment. It worked against communism. It will work against Islamic extremism. But will it? Old historic formulas many times do not work in a new world. Can't we just go back and fight the Cold War again history tells how to do it. But that could be an Andrew J. Bacevich illusion. The challenge from Islamic extremism is so vastly different. Contain what to where? Not even a page about that. Look to this book for hard hitting criticism from a Reinhold Niebuhr point-of-view but not for viable foreign policy alternatives. An unreasoned pull-back of our grasp could create a whole new set of unintended nasty consequences.

Andrew Bacevich has written a thought-provoking and approachable analysis of America's expansionist policies and their consequences. The book makes the clear-headed case that the long-term solutions to America's (our) military misadventures in the Middle East and elsewhere will come from more cogent and integrated strategies and as importantly from addressing other domestic problems, such as our personal and public indebtedness (our dependence on foreign financing) and our use of energy (our dependence on foreign oil). The take-away message is that we must learn to live within our means, not only in terms of our budgets but also in terms of our foreign and military policy.

Far and away, the strength of the book is the way that it draws historical parallels to show that today's problems have antecedents in decisions made during more "successful" periods of U.S. history. Bacevich is a master at drawing on details of our foreign policy and military history; his insights on these key earlier decisions alone more than justify the price of the book.

The weakness of the analysis is its unremitting negative tone. The politicians and advisors with whom you disagree get skewered, but so do those whom you might admire. Bacevich succeeds in pointing out mistakes, advocates for more comprehensive and realistic analyses of threats and opportunities, but never shows how actual human beings or systems would necessarily come up with better solutions. His eventual message to live within our means and to approach the use of military force more cautiously are consistent with this implied low regard for political decision-making. However, he overlooks some of the risks of caution, which is itself a policy decision.

The facts are presented in a logical, well thought out manor. All facts have references to verify their accuracy. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who wants to gain an understading of why our country is where we are today and how we got there.