Audiobook14 hours
A World of Enemies: America's Wars at Home and Abroad from Kennedy to Biden
Written by Osamah F. Khalil
Narrated by Rick Adamson
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this audiobook
Over the past half-century, Americans have watched their country extend its military power to what seemed the very ends of the earth. America's might is felt on nearly every continent-and even on its own streets. Decades ago, the Wars on Drugs and Terror broke down the walls separating law enforcement from military operations. A World of Enemies tells the story of how an America plagued by fears of waning power and influence embraced foreign and domestic forever wars.
Osamah Khalil argues that the militarization of US domestic and foreign affairs was the product of America's failure in Vietnam. Unsettled by their inability to prevail in Southeast Asia, US leaders increasingly came to see a host of problems as immune to political solutions. Rather, crime, drugs, and terrorism were enemies spawned in "badlands"-whether the Middle East or stateside inner cities. Characterized as sites of endemic violence, badlands lay beyond the pale of civilization, their ostensibly racially and culturally alien inhabitants best handled by force.
Its failures-in Iraq, Afghanistan, US cities, and increasingly rural and borderland America-have only served to reinforce fears of weakness. It is time, Khalil argues, for a new approach. Instead of managing never-ending conflicts, we need to reinvest in the tools of traditional politics and diplomacy.
Osamah Khalil argues that the militarization of US domestic and foreign affairs was the product of America's failure in Vietnam. Unsettled by their inability to prevail in Southeast Asia, US leaders increasingly came to see a host of problems as immune to political solutions. Rather, crime, drugs, and terrorism were enemies spawned in "badlands"-whether the Middle East or stateside inner cities. Characterized as sites of endemic violence, badlands lay beyond the pale of civilization, their ostensibly racially and culturally alien inhabitants best handled by force.
Its failures-in Iraq, Afghanistan, US cities, and increasingly rural and borderland America-have only served to reinforce fears of weakness. It is time, Khalil argues, for a new approach. Instead of managing never-ending conflicts, we need to reinvest in the tools of traditional politics and diplomacy.
Related to A World of Enemies
Related audiobooks
The Punitive Turn in American Life: How the United States Learned to Fight Crime Like a War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beyond War: Reimagining American Influence in a New Middle East Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The American Way of War: Guided Missiles, Misguided Men, and a Republic in Peril Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Real Enemies: Conspiracy Theories and American Democracy, World War I to 9/11 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spiral: Trapped in the Forever War Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The End of Ambition: The United States and the Third World in the Vietnam Era Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerican Foreign Relations: A Very Short Introduction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Year of the Hawk: America's Descent into Vietnam, 1965 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Storm from the East: The Struggle Between the Arab World and the Christian West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor / Hiroshima / 9-11 / Iraq Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Future of Terrorism: ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and the Alt-Right Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Age of Anxiety: McCarthyism to Terrorism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nixon's War at Home: The FBI, Leftist Guerrillas, and the Origins of Counterterrorism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Grand Improvisation: America Confronts the British Superpower, 1945-1957 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5They Called It Peace: Worlds of Imperial Violence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFailures of Imagination: The Deadliest Threats to Our Homeland--and How to Thwart Them Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The New Border Wars: The Conflicts That Will Define Our Future Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSetting Sights: Histories and Reflections on Community Armed Self-Defense Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Twilight Struggle: What the Cold War Teaches Us about Great-Power Rivalry Today Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5iWar: War and Peace in the Information Age Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Wars & Military For You
The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Watchmaker's Daughter: The True Story of World War II Heroine Corrie ten Boom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dirty Tricks Department: Stanley Lovell, the OSS, and the Masterminds of World War II Secret Warfare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kill Anything That Moves Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine: From Zionism to Intifadas and the Struggle for Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America's Colony Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps' Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When I Come Home Again: 'A page-turning literary gem' THE TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF 2020 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin - Book Summary: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead And Win Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Templars: The History and the Myth: From Solomon's Temple to the Freemasons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Korean War: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saved: A War Reporter's Mission to Make It Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for A World of Enemies
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews