[Lejes Rimul]

I was lucky enough to stumble onto a dusty copy of it on sale for a quarter at a used book store almost a decade ago, just entering high school. His thesis about the dangers inherent in imperial overstretch was my first indication that conservatism wasn't just a founding principle of our nation but the very bedrock of our Great Power status. Precisely why I'm so wary of the open-ended GWOT today...

[warchild9]

A good companion book to Rise and Fall is The New American Militarism, by Andrew Bacevich, a really good analysis of how "patriotism" is being twisted into militarism by the people who run the White House. It's written by a truly conservative, retired officer who has no ax to grind in any political sense.

This book sort of brings up to date and close to home (if you'll forgive the double cliches) Kennedy's lessons.