The Savage Wars Of Peace: Small Wars And The Rise Of American Power | 
| Author: Max Boot
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $18.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  64 reviews
Sales Rank: 52222
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6 x 1.3
ISBN: 046500721X
Dewey Decimal Number: 355.033573
EAN: 9780465007219
ASIN: 046500721X
Publication Date: May 2003
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Amazon.com
Whether fought for commercial or strategic concessions or even moral reasons, whether little-known or well-publicized, America's "small wars"--against, say, the Barbary pirates and the rebellious Boxers--played a large part in the development of what historian Max Boot does not hesitate to call an American empire. All arguments to the contrary, Boot insists, America has never been an isolationist power; it has "been involved in other countries' internal affairs since at least 1805," when American marines landed on the shores of Tripoli, and it has "never confined the use of force to those situations that meet the narrow definition of American interests preferred by realpolitikers and isolationists." Closely examining the record of those small wars, which far outnumber major conflicts, Boot argues that Americans have a historic duty to deliver foreign nations from aggression, even to intervene in civil wars abroad, especially if the product is greater freedom--for, he writes, "a world of liberal democracies would be a world much more amenable to American interests than any conceivable alternative." Readers may take issue with some of Boot's conclusions, but they merit wide discussion, especially in a time when small--and perhaps large--wars are looming. Boot's book is thus timely, and most instructive. --Gregory McNamee
Product Description
America's "small wars," "imperial wars," or, as the Pentagon now terms them, "low-intensity conflicts," have played an essential but little-appreciated role in its growth as a world power. Beginning with Jefferson's expedition against the Barbary Pirates, Max Boot tells the exciting stories of our sometimes minor but often bloody landings in Samoa, the Philippines, China, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Mexico, Russia, and elsewhere. Along the way he sketches colorful portraits of little-known military heroes such as Stephen Decatur, "Fighting Fred" Funston, and Smedley Butler. From 1800 to the present day, such undeclared wars have made up the vast majority of our military engagements. Yet the military has often resisted preparing itself for small wars, preferring instead to train for big conflicts that seldom come. Boot re-examines the tragedy of Vietnam through a "small war" prism. He concludes with a devastating critique of the Powell Doctrine and a convincing argument that the armed forces must reorient themselves to better handle small-war missions, because such clashes are an inevitable result of America's far-flung imperial responsibilities.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 59 more reviews...
 read it! February 10, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Max Boot has done a great job presenting a concise and interesting history of U.S. military action in other countries. It is very informative and entertaining. I think it should be added to high school curricula so that young people could have the opportunity to learn about and respect the USA's role in the world and especially our awesome marines, soldiers, sailors & airmen. I am sure there would be some very lively debates in the classroom.
Excellent Book January 18, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was given this book and I cannot say that I would have it would have jumped out at me when buying books. That said, it was great and have a much better sense of what happened on a global scale during those inter-war periods in US History.
The first half of the book moved at a very quick pace with great story telling- he made people like Stephen Decatur, Smedley Butler, Frederick Funston, and their pupils come to life. The book attempts to take a neutral bias on the causes of the interventions and focuses on describing what the 'man in the arena' did once he got there to carry out his orders. And because these conflicts aren't well know, this is a good introductory book to the topic...while I don't want to ignore facts, I also don't want to get bogged down to the point where it isn't enjoyable to read. The second half got a little bogged as he moves to arguing the implications of fighting a small war with big war tactics (Vietnam) as well as his arguments against the Powell Doctrine and the outlook.
I thought that he bounded the problem well, and stayed within the bounds.
a must read for these times September 28, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
One of the best books I have read about our (USA) involvement in a surprising amount of insurections and affairs that required more than the State Departments attention.
 A seductive message, and yet it is wrong... July 28, 2007
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
I first read this book several years back, as a young Sergeant. When I first read it, the book seemed to make a lot of good points, and its logic seemed almost ironclad. After having gotten a bit older and a bit wiser, and having been taught at least a few formal critical thinking techniques, I now believe that Mr. Boot's book is pretty much wrong from cover to cover. He basically tells us how great and wonderful our military interventions have been to the world (and to our security), but when you start to look more deeply at his examples (Philipines, Haiti, etcetera) you start to believe that the truth is a lot more complex than he makes it seem.
I am no pacifist, and in many cases our intervention may truely have been unavoidable or have improved things, but the case he makes is almost entirely one sided. Look no further than his analysis of Smedley Butler's change of heart. *sarcasm* Obviously the man simply didn't see "the big picture". After all, a General with decades of experience in the very campaigns Boot cheerleads couldn't possibly be at least somewhat right in his criticisms. */end sarcasm*
I give it two stars because Mr. Boot is a good writer, and he knows how to make his argument seem irrefutable, even when they are very debatable. Just my 2 cents.
The perfect mix of analysis, narrative and good writing June 18, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The more history I read, the more I admire historians. Writing good history is not easy. You can be overly academic and the book becomes dry and boring, or if one just strings together interesting stories the book lacks intellectual weight.
The Savage Wars of Peace hits the mark. It finds new ways to tell old stories in a new light. Most military history focuses on the big wars and big battles (think D-day and Gettysburg). Many prominent historians have made careers stating the American way of war is based on mass and attrition.
Max Boot takes a different angle. Those "small wars" that pop up in-between the big wars are just as vital to U.S. military history as the big wars. As America looks toward the future of warfare it is looking less like Battle of the Bulge and more like numerous occupations of Haiti. The book carefully moves though American's small wars and demonstrates how similar they are and how regular, irregular warfare really is. The book is very pro-Marine Corps, but they are the ones who fought most of America's small wars and published the now famous "Small Wars Manual" in the late 1930s.
The book was written before the U.S. intervention into Iraq, but it does predict many of its problems. The first half of the book is stronger than the last half, and the last chapter sort of rambles, but it is by far the best military history book I have read this year. Well worth your time.
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