Monsters to Destroy: The Neoconservative War on Terror and Sin [Paperback]

Ira Chernus (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1594512760 | ISBN-13: 978-1594512766 | Publication Date: September 30, 2006

In his new book Monsters to Destroy: The Neoconservative War on Terror and Sin, Ira Chernus tackles the question of why U.S. foreign policy, aimed at building national security, has the paradoxical effect of making the country less safe and secure. His answer: The war on terror is based not on realistic appraisals of the causes of conflict, but rather on stories that neoconservative policymakers tell about human nature and a world divided between absolute good and absolute evil. The root of the stories is these policymakers terror of the social and cultural changes that swept through U.S. society in the 1960s. George W. Bush and the neoconservatives cast the agents of change not simply as political opponents, but as enemies or sinners acting with evil intent to destroy U.S. values and morals that is, as monsters rather than human beings. The war on terror transfers that plot from a domestic to a foreign stage, making it more appealing even to those who reject the neoconservative agenda at home. Because it does not deal with the real causes of global conflict, it harms rather than helps the goal of greater national security.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book gets at the deeper stories about how we view the world and the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of it. It's all the more important when we're being told to embrace a future of perpetual war. -- Paul Loeb, author of Soul of a Citizen There is a great deal to praise here. The writing is clear, lively, engaging, and accessible. The analysis is smart, well informed, perceptive, and revealing. The topic is of great interest and importance. I'm very impressed by what Prof. Chernus has done. -- Bruce Lincoln, Caroline E. Haskell Professor of History of Religions, History of Culture, and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Chicago. Monsters to Destroy takes an incisive look at the stories we are told-and tell ourselves -about evil forces and American responses. Ira Chernus pushes beyond standard political rhetoric and media cliches to examine psychological mechanisms that freeze our concepts of the world. Monsters to Destroy offers a very helpful antidote to the venom that top U.S. officials have propagated since September 11, 2001. -- Norman Solomon, author, War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death Monsters to Destroy is a must-read for all those concerned about the reckless and dangerous role the United States now plays in the world and its interrelationship with religious conservative moralism on the home front. Ira Chernus puts forward a convincing and rather disturbing analysis of the lens through which President Bush sees the world and how he communicates what amounts to a simplistic morality tale to the American people. In doing so, Professor Chernus provides important answers to the questions as to why the Bush administration does what it does and how they get away with it. -- Stephen Zunes, University of San Francisco Ira Chernus brings the discerning eye of an historian of religions to the dense and jarring tangle of national stories we tell about ourselves. Whether reflecting on 'conservative moralism,' or 'liberal internationalism,' Chernus asks his readers to step back, to think outside of what he considers the apocalyptic allure of stories that lead only to more violence. His is a clear, critical, important voice, and this a book worth engaging no matter what individual stories readers bring to it. -- Edward T. Linenthal, editor of Journal of American History and author of The Unfinished Bombing: Oklahoma City in American Memory

From the Publisher

"This book gets at the deeper stories about how we view the world and the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of it. It’s all the more important when we’re being told to embrace a future of perpetual war." —Paul Loeb, author of Soul of a Citizen

"There is a great deal to praise here. The writing is clear, lively, engaging, and accessible. The analysis is smart, well informed, perceptive, and revealing. The topic is of great interest and importance. I'm very impressed by what Prof. Chernus has done." —Bruce Lincoln, Caroline E. Haskell Professor of History of Religions, History of Culture, and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Chicago.

"Monsters to Destroy" takes an incisive look at the stories we are told—and tell ourselves —about evil forces and American responses. Ira Chernus pushes beyond standard political rhetoric and media cliches to examine psychological mechanisms that freeze our concepts of the world. Monsters to Destroy offers a very helpful antidote to the venom that top U.S. officials have propagated since September 11, 2001." —Norman Solomon, author, War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death

"Monsters to Destroy is a must-read for all those concerned about the reckless and dangerous role the United States now plays in the world and its interrelationship with religious conservative moralism on the home front. Ira Chernus puts forward a convincing and rather disturbing analysis of the lens through which President Bush sees the world and how he communicates what amounts to a simplistic morality tale to the American people. In doing so, Professor Chernus provides important answers to the questions as to why the Bush administration does what it does and how they get away with it." —Stephen Zunes, University of San Francisco

"Ira Chernus brings the discerning eye of an historian of religions to the dense and jarring tangle of national stories we tell about ourselves. Whether reflecting on ‘conservative moralism,’ or ‘liberal internationalism,’ Chernus asks his readers to step back, to think outside of what he considers the apocalyptic allure of stories that lead only to more violence. His is a clear, critical, important voice, and this a book worth engaging no matter what individual stories readers bring to it." —Edward T. Linenthal, editor of Journal of American History and author of The Unfinished Bombing: Oklahoma City in American Memory --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Paradigm Publishers (September 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594512760
• ISBN-13: 978-1594512766
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #623,478 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Neocons exposed, January 8, 2007

By 

Jerry Austin (Kansas City/Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monsters to Destroy: The Neoconservative War on Terror and Sin (Paperback)

Professor Chernus deserves a much wider readership for his analysis. He ties evangelical theology and neo-conservative philosophy together and shows the influence of each on our country's leadership throughout the past decades.

I was jolted and revolted at the blatantly arrogant imperialism of the leading neo-conservative intellectual writers quoted throughout this book. If the administration had not been "thumped" by the voters since the publication of "Monsters", I would have found it too depressing. As it is, I hope that more people will read this and spread the word.

I was disturbed (before reading this account) that the president could continue making speeches that claimed that our enemies hated freedom, and we loved freedom, and that's why we were fighting...and that the public swallowed this rhetoric. Prof. Chernus explores how these labels get adopted and what they come to mean. I found it to be an eye-opening exercise.

The key premise of the book is that our current leaders are all working from a myth that we Americans are heroes fighting against evil, and that we keep assigning new villains to sustain this fiction. When our government starts fighting fantasy wars instead of actually using the military to be prepared to defend the country, we are in trouble.

I was disappointed in the weak suggestions at the end for a solution to the problem. I am sympathetic to the peace movement, but I think there are times to be fighters, based on clear-headed reality-based decisions.

The most important point is that the U.S. verges on becoming the villain when it bullies the rest of the world to try to enforce its dominance. I hope this book contributes to a movement away from Pax Americana imperialism.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An introduction to the ideology of the most powerful nation, November 25, 2007

By 

Laszlo Hopp - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monsters to Destroy: The Neoconservative War on Terror and Sin (Paperback)

Through writings of a wide range of intellectuals and speeches by G.W.Bush, Ira Chernus gives a compelling overwiev of today's ideological trends in US policy making.

Although 9/11 and Iraq are duly mentioned in various sections, Ira Chernus does not spend much time on specific events rather, focuses on the philosophical driving force behind them. Much of his attention is devoted to the neoconservatives who, even today, seem to have an almost exclusive influence on US foreign policy. He reveals step by step, how "... Conservative moralists fuse politics, nationalism, culture and religion into a single arena...". The role of Evangelical Christians and liberal internationalists in this process is briefly but succinctly discussed.

Overall, he suggests that by reducing important questions to Biblical simplicity, the government has successfully maintained fear as the determining feeling in the American society.

Reading the passages from the neocon thinkers, I got cold shivers, as they twisted the noble concepts of Freedom, Democracy, Justice and Morals to paternalistic, self serving tools for their hegemonic ambitions. I may have questioned the accuracy or context of some of the quotes, had I not read the Project for the New American Century's report, Rebuilding America's Defenses that apparently staked out US foreign policy since its publication in September, 2000.

In summary, anyone who is in the majority camp of ideologically uncommitted, or who has even the slightest doubt about the purity, rightousness, unselfishness and piety of today's US foreign and domestic policy, should read this book to be able to reevaluate whether their view of the country is correct.