Bøger udgivet af David Swanson

The Monroe Doctrine was and is a justification for actions, some good, some indifferent, but the overwhelming bulk reprehensible. The Monroe Doctrine remains in place, both explicitly and dressed up in novel language. Additional doctrines have been built on its foundations. This book looks at the creation, evolution, and use of the Monroe Doctrine over the years since 1823, and proposes a radically different approach for the U.S. government to take with Latin America and the world.

This book documents the case that World War II happened in such a different world that it has little relevance to today''s foreign policy, as well as the case that U.S. participation in WWII was not justifiable. Specifically, WWII was not fought to rescue anyone from persecution, was not necessary for defense, was the most damaging and destructive event yet to occur, and would not have happened had any one of these factors been missing: World War I, the manner in which WWI was ended, U.S. funding and arming of Nazis, a U.S. arms race with Japan, U.S. development of racial segregation, U.S. development of eugenics, U.S. development of genocide and ethnic cleansing, or the U.S. and British prioritization of opposing the Soviet Union at all costs. The author corrects numerous misconceptions about the most popular and misunderstood war in western culture, in order to build a case for moving to a world beyond war.

The U.S. government has a habit of supporting brutal (and comically outrageous) dictators. This book offers 20 current examples, together with some background on historical patterns, some explanation for why this happens, and a proposal to put an end to it.As documented here, the U.S. government arms, trains, and funds all variety of oppressive governments, not just dictatorships. The choice to focus on dictatorships in this book was not made merely to shorten the list. Rather, that choice was made because the U.S. government so often claims to be opposing dictators through the promotion of democracy. Frequently, the atrocious conduct of a dictator is a central selling point for a new war or coup or program of sanctions.Yet neither Saddam Hussein’s horrific (though fictional) removal of babies from incubators nor Manuel Noriega’s cavorting in red underwear with prostitutes while snorting cocaine and praying to voodoo gods (as the New York Times solemnly informed us on December 26, 1989) rivals the moral horror or the glorious goofiness of the 20 tyrants described in this book.No one will be able to read this and believe that a primary purpose of U.S. foreign policy is to oppose dictatorships or to promote democracy. If it is important to you to try to believe that, you've probably already stopped reading.

U.S. exceptionalism, the idea that the United States of America is superior to other nations, is no more fact-based and no less harmful than racism, sexism, and other forms of bigotry. This book examines how the United States compares with other countries, how people think about that, what damage that thinking does, and what we might change.

This critique of “Just War” theory finds the criteria it uses to be either unmeasurable, unachievable, or amoral, and the perspective it takes too narrow, arguing that belief in the possibility of a just war does tremendous damage by facilitating enormous investment in war preparations—which strips resources from human and environmental needs while creating momentum for numerous unjust wars.Swanson builds a case that the time has come to set behind us the idea that a war can ever be just.

A collection of new essays from David Swanson, author of War Is A Lie, covering topics including war, peace, the earth, justice, and activism.

This book is the most comprehensive collection available explaining what the military industrial complex (MIC) is, where it comes from, what damage it does, what further destruction it threatens, and what can be done and is being done to chart a different course.

This book presents what numerous reviewers have called the best existing argument for the abolition of war, demonstating that war can be ended, war should be ended, war is not ending on its own, and that we must end war.