UNDERSTANDING THE WAR INDUSTRY

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The War Industry infests the American economy like a cancer, sapping its strength and distorting its creativity while devouring its treasure.

Stunning in the depth of its research, Understanding the War Industry documents how the war industry commands the other two sides of the military-industrial-congressional triangle. It lays bare the multiple levers enabling the vast and proliferating war industry to wield undue influence, exploiting financial and legal structures, while co-opting Congress, academia and the media. Spiked with insights into how corporate boardrooms view the troops, overseas bases, and warzones, it assiduously delineates how corporations reap enormous profits by providing a myriad of goods and services devoted to making war, which must be rationalized and used if the game is to go on:  advanced weaponry, drones and nukes; invasive information technology; space-based weapons; and special operations—with contracts stuffed with ongoing and proliferating developmental, tertiary and maintenance products for all of it.

“To an ever-increasing extent, the business of America is the business of war. But although Americans live in the shadow of a war economy, few understand the full extent of its power and influence. Thanks to Christian Sorensen’s deeply researched book into the military-industrial complex that envelops our society, such ignorance can no longer be an excuse.” —ANDREW COCKBURN, author of Kill Chain: The Rise of the High Tech Assassins.

“A devastating account of American militarism, brilliantly depicted, and exhaustively researched in an authoritative manner. Sorensen’s book is urgent, fascinating reading for anyone who wants to save the country and the world from political, economic, and ecological disaster. Its message is so convincingly delivered that it will change many open minds forever and for the better.” —RICHARD FALK, International Lawyer

“Have you ever wondered why the United States is always at war? This meticulously researched book lays out in painstaking detail exactly how our nation has been captured by a war industry that profits from endless conflict and pursues profit at all costs. It will shock you, infuriate you, and hopeful inspire you to help dismantle the grotesque killing machine that steals our resources, wreaks havoc around the world, and leaves the merchants of death laughing all the way to the bank.” — MEDEA BENJAMIN, codirector, CODEPINK for Peace

“I’m adding Christian Sorensen’s new book, Understanding the War Industry , to the list of books I think will convince you to help abolish war and militaries… [It is] not so much analysis as an effort to persuade through the repetition of examples, countless examples, naming names and laid out over hundreds of pages. The author admits that he’s only scratching the surface. But he’s scratching it in lots of different places, and the result ought to be persuasive for most people”—DAVID SWANSON, World Beyond War

“Christian Sorensen is the Seymour Melman of the 21st century, dissecting the military-industrial-congressional complex and providing us a way to understand this convoluted machine which exploits and oppresses the entire world…” —WILL GRIFFIN, founder and director of The Peace Report.

“It has long been obvious that America’s numerous, hugely expensive and destructive and seemingly perpetual wars of choice have not been intended to serve any interests of the vast majority of the American people. In Understanding the War Industry, Christian Sorensen presents detailed and thoroughly documented evidence to convincingly support his conviction that the dominant force among those seeking war for the sake of war is the pursuit of profit maximization by the corporate “war industry”. He concludes: “There will be no escape from interminable wars until this reality is recognized and resisted.” This book offers a major contribution to that struggle.”— JOHN V. WHITBECK, International Laywer

 

 

 

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Description

Stunning in the depth of its research, Understanding the War Industry documents how the war industry commands the other two sides of the military-industrial-congressional triangle. It lays bare the multiple levers enabling the vast and proliferating war industry to wield undue influence, exploiting financial and legal structures, while co-opting Congress, academia and the media. Spiked with insights into how corporate boardrooms view the troops, overseas bases, and warzones, it assiduously delineates how corporations reap enormous profits by providing a myriad of goods and services devoted to making war, which must be rationalized and used if the game is to go on:  advanced weaponry, drones and nukes; invasive information technology; space-based weapons; and special operations—with contracts stuffed with ongoing and proliferating developmental, tertiary and maintenance products for all of it.

It names the names—individuals and corporations—that weld it all together.

War-related spending permeates the U.S. economy, masquerading as patriotism, national security and troop protection. No geographic or economic sector remains untouched. Even large swaths of U.S. academia succumb to the gravy train, diverted from the pursuit of knowledge that might otherwise benefit humanity.

Foreign governments provide a major source of revenue for U.S. war corporations. Their sales generate a military buildup worldwide, turning state leaders into blatant arms pushers, and requiring global threat-mongering and outright war to justify the vast expense.

Understanding the War Industry serves as both an authoritative textbook, and an unparalleled resource to galvanize public protest at the carnage and the waste that leaves ordinary Americans to face tanking social welfare indicators and deteriorating infrastructure. Its coverage of the ins and outs of corporate dominance and their built-in for-profit imperatives substantiates what many have long only suspected as the primary impetus for an often seemingly aberrant, incomprehensible American foreign policy. War corporations’ drive for profit drives America’s endless wars.

No president, even if so inclined, can stop America’s permanent wars until and unless a mass movement comes to understand and then demand the roll back of corporate war profiteering, their deeply-rooted cause. This book provides a lever.

Book Details

Options

audiobook, EBOOK – Epub and Kindle, PDF, Paperback

ISBN

978-1-949762-22-8

eBook ISBN

978-1-949762-23-5

Page count

434

Publication date

2020

Author

Christian Sorensen

Reviews

11 reviews for UNDERSTANDING THE WAR INDUSTRY

  1. WILL GRIFFIN

    “Christian Sorensen is the Seymour Melman of the 21st century, dissecting the military-industrial-congressional complex and providing us a way to understand this convoluted machine which exploits and oppresses the entire world. The U.S. government serves corporate interests and corporate interests have always put profits over people. Indeed, a necessary reading for anyone who wishes to understand how the world operates and, even more importantly, how forces are structured in keeping business-as-usual. Christian exposes this structure. Our goal, however, is to change it.” —WILL GRIFFIN, founder and director of The Peace Report.

  2. PAT FONTES

    “Christian Sorensen has achieved a remarkable feat: combining a rigorous, straightforward presentation of the evidence with an underlying current of moral outrage featuring flashes of acerbic wit.” —PAT FONTES, peace activist and 2018 Rhode Island candidate for U.S. Senate

  3. MEDEA BENJAMIN

    “Have you ever wondered why the United States is always at war? This meticulously researched book lays out in painstaking detail exactly how our nation has been captured by a war industry that profits from endless conflict and pursues profit at all costs. It will shock you, infuriate you, and hopeful inspire you to help dismantle the grotesque killing machine that steals our resources, wreaks havoc around the world, and leaves the merchants of death laughing all the way to the bank.” — MEDEA BENJAMIN, codirector, CODEPINK for Peace

  4. JOHN V. WHITBECK

    “It has long been obvious that America’s numerous, hugely expensive and destructive and seemingly perpetual wars of choice have not been intended to serve any interests of the vast majority of the American people. In Understanding the War Industry, Christian Sorensen presents detailed and thoroughly documented evidence to convincingly support his conviction that the dominant force among those seeking war for the sake of war is the pursuit of profit maximization by the corporate “war industry”. He concludes: “There will be no escape from interminable wars until this reality is recognized and resisted.” This book offers a major contribution to that struggle.” JOHN V. WHITBECK, International Lawyer

  5. RICHARD FALK

    “A devastating account of American militarism, brilliantly depicted, and exhaustively researched in an authoritative manner. Sorensen’s book is urgent, fascinating reading for anyone who wants to save the country and the world from political, economic, and ecological disaster. Its message is so convincingly delivered that it will change many open minds forever and for the better.” —RICHARD FALK

  6. ERIC WALBERG

    “Christian Sorensen’s ambitious Understanding the War Industry documents the US war economy with zest. It’s a dull, monotonous topic but vitally important, and he manages to make it interesting. You see the military-industrial-political complex as a vast, complex hive, embedded in the larger economic monster called the United States.” —ERIC WALBERG

  7. DAVID SWANSON

    Understanding the War Industry is not so much analysis as an effort to persuade through the repetition of examples, countless examples, naming names and laid out over hundreds of pages. The author admits that he’s only scratching the surface. But he’s scratching it in lots of different places, and the result ought to be persuasive for most people. If your mind doesn’t go numb, you will feel an urge to take a shower after closing this book. When the Nye Committee held hearings in the 1930s exposing shameful war profiteering, people cared because war profiteering was considered shameful. Now we get books like Sorensen’s that expose war profiteering as a fully developed industry, one that generates the wars from which to profit, while simultaneously and systematically generating shamelessness in the hearts and minds of the people paying for it all. Such books have the task of re-creating shame, not just exposing what is already shameful. Whether they’re up to the task remains to be seen. But we ought to spread them around and give it a try.” —DAVID SWANSON, World Beyond War

  8. ANDREW COCKBURN

    “To an ever-increasing extent, the business of America is the business of war. But although Americans live in the shadow of a war economy, few understand the full extent of its power and influence. Thanks to Christian Sorensen’s deeply researched book into the military-industrial complex that envelops our society, such ignorance can no longer be an excuse.” —ANDREW COCKBURN, author of Kill Chain: The Rise of the High Tech Assassins

  9. JIM MILES

    “The immense size and spread of the War Department covers all aspects of domestic and foreign policy in the U.S. The revolving door actions between the military, corporations, and the political establishment maintain the direction and purpose, the power and the greed, and the overall control of the nation. It is involved directly or indirectly in every aspect of the U.S. economy and until its profiteering motives are stopped, real progress towards a peaceful cooperative global environment will be impossible.
    Christian Sorensen’s book, Understanding the War Industry is one large step in the right direction. It is highly informative, well researched, and extensive in its knowledge of the military-industrial-congressional networks. Educating the public about the extent of the MIC has been done before – this book is the best and most up to date, a worthy addition to the anti-war library and knowledge set.” JIM MILES, Palestine Chronicle

  10. MATTHEW EHRET

    “Sorenson offers us a window into the inner structure of war as you’ve never seen it. Once you read this book, you will never be able to unsee or unthink the lessons which the author expertly dissects of the ugly naked military power structures and how they move behind the scenes to shape national policy.”

    -MATTHEW EHRET, author Untold History of Canada and Editor in Chief, Canadian Patriot Review

  11. NEW LABOUR REVIEW

    “A comprehensive, myth-busting guide shows how U.S. military policy is made not in the White House or Congress or the Pentagon but in corporate boardrooms based on how best to maximize profits.” NEW LABOUR REVIEW, published by City University of New York

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