Today when you factor in the interest on the national debt from past wars and total defense expenditures the United States spends almost 40% of its federal budget on the military. It accounts for over 46% of total world arms spending. Before World War II it spent almost nothing on defense and hardly anyone paid any income taxes. You can't have big wars without big government. Such big expenditures are now threatening to harm the national economy. How did this situation come to be?

In this book you'll learn how in the critical twenty years after World War II the United States changed from being a continental democratic republic to a global imperial superpower. Since then nothing has ever been the same again. In this book you will discover this secret history of the United States that formed the basis of the world we live in today.

By buying this book you will discover:

- How the end of European colonialism created a power vacuum that the United States used to create a new type of world empire backed by the most powerful military force in human history.

- Why the Central Intelligence Agency was created and used to interfere in the internal affairs of other nations when the United States Constitution had no mechanism for such imperial activities.

- How national security bureaucrats got President Harry Truman to approve of a new wild budget busting arms race after World War II that is still going on to this day.

- Why President Eisenhower really gave his famous warning against the "military-industrial complex."

- Why during the Kennedy administration the nuclear arms race almost led to the end of the world during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

- How President Kennedy tried to deal with what had grown into a "permanent government" of power elite national security bureaucrats in the executive branch of the federal government that had become more powerful than the individual president himself.

In this book you will discover this secret history of the United States that formed the basis of the world we live in today.

Length: 432 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Former hedge fund manager Michael Swanson is the founder and head editor of WallStreetWindow.com. He received a Masters Degree in history from the University of Virginia in 1998 and since retiring from the hedge fund world writes about global investment trends, the financial markets, and American history. The War State is the first in a series of books he is writing on the Cold War and American foreign policy.

Product details

File Size: 871 KB
Print Length: 432 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1484080769
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publication Date: August 30, 2013
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B00EWLGXHW
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray:

Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Enabled
Screen Reader: Supported

Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #246,260 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #154 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > National & International Security
- #782 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > International & World Politics > Security
- #917 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Americas > United States > 20th Century

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Excellent!!

ByJaneon September 1, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Swanson's overarching argument is that the war industry became established in WWII, and indelibly entrenched in policy during the Cold War. Today, the military-industrial complex is the most powerful special interest group, influencing foreign policy, the economy, and social issues. It calls into question the constitutionality of current government .

Though he introduces the concept of the military-industrial complex in Chapter 1, Swanson refers back to his definition many times throughout the book. This adds to the book's clarity because there is an easy-to-follow theme throughout the book. Rarely do I feel, "okay... why is all this in the book?" (which, to me, seems so common in long historical narratives)

Swanson makes the connection between war and "big government." I thought this was one of the most fascinating political theories in the book. He ties together the economic, political, and social implications of the militarization era. He highlights the CIA, the American government's own "secret society," as well as criminal negligence and government self-regulation as problems in government policy.

The second half of the book transitions to the rise of "national security" as a prop for government action, and concludes with an investigation of Cold War repercussions that extend into the 21st century. I feel that Swanson expertly highlights the similarities between the Cold War period and modern Middle East conflicts. For example, the national security issue remains relevant today, in context of September 11th and the Patriot Act. Swanson even extends his argument to the constitution, illustrating how as national security's threat to personal liberty.

The conclusion also offers an intelligent summation of the author's arguments and analysis. Swanson speaks to the insane fantasy land the federal government lives in as it attempts to "control a dynamic and changing world." At the same time, the "big government" squeezes the individual person, through ever increasing taxes, calling for personal sacrifice through our always-mobilized army, and the pressure our country places on other independent nations to adopt the same military-industrial complex.

This book was an enlightening and educational experience which positively influenced my political opinion. I highly recommend it for those who are curious about post-war history.

0Comment 61 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Swanson has pulled off a major work

ByMike Takieddineon September 4, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

In London, the so-called hub of civilization and privacy, there is a camera on every street corner, and in the U.S. someone is watching, listening or busting into your PC. If you've ever wondered how this governmental ratcheting up has happened -under our collective noses, so to speak- then you've got to read Swanson's The War State.

And for those of us who have wanted to say enough -enough taxing us to feed the constantly ballooning defense budget, enough of the belligerent warmongers populating our agencies, and enough of the armies of power brokers who write our laws and direct our business, The War State threads the pieces together in an uncanny and masterful way.

Swanson could have approached his project as a political writer with a clearly branded bias (as did Hartung and Maddow in previous books), but he didn't; he could have allowed himself to be bogged down with the many intricate stories that he weaves, but he didn't; and, finally, he could have indulged in basing his narrative on the low hanging fruit (e.g. the two landmarks of Eisenhower's warning of 1961 and Kennedy's Bay of Pigs debacle), but he didn't.

Swanson takes us from the beginning -from the detonation of the atomic bomb on Japan- through Stalin's and then Khrushchev's "iron curtain" reigns, to Eisenhower's famed "New Look" strategic doctrines that relied on nuclear deterrence and constituted a historic stand against the further expansion of the U.S. arms capabilities, and finally all the way to JFK's tears on Jackie's lap after the debacle at the Bay of Pigs, and his later assassination.

Only recently published, The War State is already making its mark as the single best book to read. It has a rich and deeply reported look at the full sweep and complexity of events spanning the period in which baby boomers were born. The author's crisp and eminently exciting style combines between a fact-based academic approach and that of a thriller.

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Fascinating book; not so sure about the conclusion

Bydfon January 17, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I was much more engrossed in this book than I expected to be. I taught high school American history for over 30 years, so I was familiar with everything that Swanson discusses in his book, but it was still a real eye opener to me. I knew there was pressure on Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis from the generals to take action that probably would have resulted in nuclear war, but never appreciated how much pressure until I read this book. I knew that a preemptive nuclear strike on the Soviet Union was considered in the late 40's, but I never knew that the military had proposed one as an option in the 60's that would have resulted in nuclear winter and wiped out life on the planet. Swanson sold me on his point that the amount we spend on defense is excessive and has been for a long time. Right now, our biggest concern in the world is ISIL. Do we really need to spend more than we are now, when we are spending six times as much on defense than the next nearest nation, to take them on? The only thing that bothered me was in Swanson's conclusion that our economy is about to fall completely apart because of our military spending. I remember reading about a year and a half ago that we were going to be entering a depression greater than the Great Depression in March of 2015, and his conclusion sounded like that to me. But, maybe he's right. In any case, I really enjoyed reading this book.

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Most recent customer reviews

Very Good Book! Definitely a Must Read!

I finished reading Michael Swanson's book three minutes before writing this review. It is well written, easy to read, and very well researched.Read more

Published 18 days ago by P. A. Lombardo

Please read this book

It is impossible for me to look back at my own history and know that I believed all those lies that the "adults" in the room were telling.Read more

Published 19 days ago by Fathersteve

Very informAtive. The cold war and govt history missile ...

Very informAtive. The cold war and govt history missile crisis in Cuba. Educational

Published 2 months ago by Mort Richman

Great book!

Excellent book. I'm not a huge history buff or in to reading vast amounts of history books, so for me this book was excellent, It does a good job of explaining and detailing the...Read more

Published 2 months ago by Chris Gromoll

Five Stars

Great book in great condition.

Published 4 months ago by WAZMAN

Swanson tells it all in this book , don't read this book unless your ready to be pissed at the goverment.

Excellent book that opened my eyes to the Military Industrial Complex that still exist today in the 21 century.Read more

Published 7 months ago by DonLallier

Want to Know Who is Pulling the Strings?

I needed this education about what is happening, right now, right here in my country. Thank you, Michael Swanson.

Published 9 months ago by Blueridge

Three Stars

An interesting and informative read that would have benefited from an editors input.

Published 11 months ago by Craigcs

Why the USA is in trouble today

This book examines the World War II international system and why a Cold War had to happen. It gives great insight on how and why nuclear war was averted under president Kennedy...Read more

Published 11 months ago by Mark O'Connor

I would recommend this book as a good primer to how our ...

I learned a lot from this informative book. I would recommend this book as a good primer to how our government has merged with big business since the end of WWII and how they have...Read more

Published 11 months ago by zoko

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