Dismantling the Empire
America’s Last Best Hope
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Narrated by:
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Tom Weiner
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By:
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Chalmers Johnson
About this listen
The author of the best-selling Blowback Trilogy reflects on America's waning power in a masterful collection of essays.
In his prophetic book Blowback, published before 9/11, Chalmers Johnson warned that our secret operations in Iraq and elsewhere around the globe would exact a price at home. Now, in a brilliant series of essays written over the last three years, Johnson measures that price and the resulting dangers America faces. Our reliance on Pentagon economics, a global empire of bases, and war without end is, he declares, nothing short of "a suicide option".
Dismantling the Empire explores the subjects for which Johnson is now famous, from the origins of blowback to Barack Obama’s Afghanistan conundrum, including our inept spies, our bad behavior in other countries, our ill-fought wars, and our capitulation to a military that has taken ever more control of the federal budget. There is, he proposes, only one way out: President Obama must begin to dismantle the empire before the Pentagon dismantles the American Dream. If we do not learn from the fates of past empires, he suggests, our decline and fall are foreordained. This is Johnson at his best, delivering both a warning and an urgent prescription for a remedy.
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Story
Hybrid war, grey-zone warfare, unrestricted war: Today, traditional conflict - fought with guns, bombs, and drones - has become too expensive to wage, too unpopular at home, and too difficult to manage. In an age when America threatens Europe with sanctions, and when China spends billions buying influence abroad, the world is heading for a new era of permanent low-level conflict, often unnoticed, undeclared, and unending.
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Clear, concise, and thought provoking
- By Dad / Husband (who rarely reviews) on 03-08-22
By: Mark Galeotti
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Making the Future
- Occupations, Interventions, Empire and Resistance
- By: Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: Peter Johnson
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Making the Future presents more than 50 concise and persuasively argued commentaries on U.S. politics and policies, written between 2007 and 2011. Taken together, Chomsky's essays present a powerful counter-narrative to official accounts of the major political events of the past four years: the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; the U.S. presidential race; the ascendancy of China; Latin America's leftward turn; the threat of nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea; Israel's invasion of Gaza and more.
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Fifty-Two Reasons to Listen to Chomsky
- By Susie on 01-04-13
By: Noam Chomsky
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America in Retreat
- The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder
- By: Bret Stephens
- Narrated by: Bret Stephens, Sean Pratt
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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America in Retreat identifies a profound crisis on the global horizon. As Americans seek to withdraw from the world to tend to domestic problems, America’s adversaries spy opportunity. Vladimir Putin's ambitions to restore the glory of the czarist empire go effectively unchecked, as do China's attempts to expand its maritime claims in the South China Sea, as do Iran's efforts to develop nuclear capabilities.
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The Burden of American Exceptionalism
- By Harry Paget on 08-15-15
By: Bret Stephens
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Descent into Chaos
- The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia
- By: Ahmed Rashid
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 19 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Rashid examines Central Asia, and the corridors of power in Washington and Europe, to see how the promised nation building in the region has progressed. His conclusions are devastating.
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Useful!
- By John Robert BEHRMAN on 02-24-09
By: Ahmed Rashid
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The War State
- The Cold War Origins Of The Military-Industrial Complex And The Power Elite, 1945-1963
- By: Michael Swanson
- Narrated by: Larry Wayne
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Surprisingly Good
- By ohmie on 04-22-14
By: Michael Swanson
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In the Shadows of the American Century
- By: Alfred W. McCoy
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In a completely original analysis, prizewinning historian Alfred W. McCoy explores America's rise as a world power - from the 1890s through the Cold War - and its bid to extend its hegemony deep into the 21st century through a fusion of cyberwar, space warfare, trade pacts, and military alliances. McCoy then analyzes the marquee instruments of US hegemony - covert intervention, client elites, psychological torture, and worldwide surveillance. Peeling back layers of secrecy, McCoy exposes a military and economic battle for global domination fought in the shadows.
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Covert war history, frameworks, tech, dark sides
- By Philo on 02-03-18
By: Alfred W. McCoy
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American Exception
- Empire and the Deep State
- By: Aaron Good
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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To trace the evolution of the American state, Aaron Good takes a deep-politics approach. The term “deep state” was badly misappropriated during the Trump era. In the simplest sense, it here refers to all those institutions that collectively exercise undemocratic power over state and society. To trace how we arrived at this point, American Exception explores various deep state institutions and history-making interventions.
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I buy the premises, but not the conclusions...
- By Clark on 01-05-23
By: Aaron Good
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In the Graveyard of Empires
- America’s War in Afghanistan
- By: Seth G. Jones
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Following September 11, the United States successfully overthrew the Taliban regime. It established security throughout the country, and Afghanistan finally began to emerge from more than two decades of conflict. But Jones argues that, as early as 2001, planning for the Iraq War siphoned off resources and talented personnel, undermining the gains that had been made. After eight years, the United States had pushed al-Qaeda’s headquarters about one hundred miles across the border into Pakistan.
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Interesting Book but- Worst Narrator Ever
- By Mark C on 01-08-11
By: Seth G. Jones
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The Shock Doctrine
- The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
- By: Naomi Klein
- Narrated by: Jennifer Wiltsie
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Abridged
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In her groundbreaking reporting, Naomi Klein introduced the term "disaster capitalism." Whether covering Baghdad after the U.S. occupation, Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami, or New Orleans post-Katrina, she witnessed something remarkably similar. People still reeling from catastrophe were being hit again, this time with economic "shock treatment," losing their land and homes to rapid-fire corporate makeovers. The Shock Doctrine retells the story of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman's free market economic revolution.
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If It's Bad for Humanity, It's Good for Business
- By Nelson Alexander on 09-29-07
By: Naomi Klein
What listeners say about Dismantling the Empire
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Terence Stamp
- 09-04-22
I never write reviews...
This book will (or should) make you angry, but in a good way. With leadership, comes responsibility, and hopefully, wisdom. It's clear that the United States has abdicated on all fronts. I was initially hesitant to even listen to the book owing to how long ago it was published. I'm glad I did. It would be interesting to hear a revised edition given our current position in the world. At least for me, the book was included for free with my Audible membership. I hope you decide to listen to it.
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- DB in TN
- 04-30-24
imperial or democracy
most striking thing was countries have to decide to be imperial or democracy- like britian chose democracy in 1800. France, German, china, Japan chose imperial.
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- Opinionator13
- 04-05-21
Knows what he is talking about.
One of the best books of the genre. The military industrial complex is not in this nation’s best interest.
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- Juan Blanco Ruiz
- 03-29-22
The Impossible
Forewarned and foretold! A 1000 year Bullshit! Amerikkka uber alles in der werld! Good riddance!
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- Daniel
- 11-29-11
Was not what I thought
It is an ok read but unlike other books in it's class discussing ALL the steps that America is taking to fall away from greatness, this is an obvious hit piece against the military plain and simple, should be titled I don't like the military and here is why.
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2 people found this helpful
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- islandtimeonly
- 12-26-21
Direct and to the point.
I loved it, partly because he didn't wander off subject, and partly because the concepts were more important than the names, rather than the other way around.
The reader was wonderful, as he did not forget to observe and apply the carefully laid out punctuation that an author works to incorporate; often something forgotten.
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- Logical Paradox
- 08-19-14
Unimpressed
Rarely do I listen to a book where I agree with everything the author is saying for the most part, but find myself annoyed to the point where I didn't want to finish. I made it through the whole book, but only out of tenacity.
I love Chalmers Johnson, and I was a big fan of Blow Back several years back. I'm politically much in line with Johnson's conclusions, but his approach here is disappointing for several reasons.
First, the book takes the form of several essays rather than a single coherent and comprehensive volume. There's a lack of flow from chapter to chapter. There's no sense of Johnson starting the reader out at the bottom of the argument, and building up the argument with facts, examples, and analysis to a climax. Here, one would expect the center of the book to be several clear, concise recommendations, along with a plan for just how "dismantling the empire" might play out on the world stage and in the American political arena. But I didn't get that. There are a bunch of conclusions such as America should disband the CIA and replace it with the State Department's intelligence apparatus, but these aren't well connected enough to feel like a prescription for action and he often repeats them. Lots of information in chapters is redundant and tiresome. "You already said that..."
Second, I'm annoyed by the need to constantly rehash the first 3 books. They felt like shameless plugs and much of the information is duplicated from those earlier works.
Third, the tone is that of a diatribe. Johnson seems more interested in engaging in polemics that making an academic argument. Lots of loaded language and declarative statements. Some of it understandable. But not a book that is likely to convince the unconvinced. So, then what's the point? Preaching to the quire might feel satisfying, but in the end it's just masturbation. The people who need convincing will not be swayed by prose that comes off as pompous, preachy, and self-righteous.
Fourth, Johnson makes many conclusions that are not well supported and which rest of grand assumptions about historical inevitability and causal relationships that should hardly be taken for granted. For example, a neo-realist would tear Johnson's argument apart, even the argument is in essence perfectly compatible with a realist interpretation and even though Johnson himself often professes that his advice is mere prudence.
All in all, not the book I was hoping for.
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5 people found this helpful
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- JohnDoe
- 09-16-21
quite well presented
The facts presented are confirmatory from other sources widely known those of us who dare to acknowledge the facts. As a red blooded, patriotic American, I weep because my compatriots insist on denying these facts. Our future is NOT pretty
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- MDK
- 03-28-21
The definition of a hit poorly supported hit piece
The only nice thing I can say about this book is that since it legitimizes its arguments by cherry picking facts and resorting to the hurling of pejoratives it’s brief. He makes a couple worthwhile criticisms of the military industrial complex but is horribly short on putting together a plan to address the problem and even less to anticipate challenges that might occur if we do address the problem.
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- John Childers
- 12-12-22
not so good.
the author needs to fully investigate his ascertain. overall, I agree we need to rein in the military complex. he realy needs to dive into his accusations of military rapes, how many are false, how many are simply made to protect the false image of a woman who has lied to her family, or to stay out of troble with the military command. I saw this happen quite a bit when in the marines. there are other issues he presented without realy digging into. very lazy man!!!
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