Quote:
Originally posted by DavidI
No, but if you recommend it, I'll be sure to pick it up.
David
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I haven't read it yet - had some credit for selling back some used Pcar books and decided to get it based on the cover/blurbs. It looks interesting -- he bases it on interviews with grunts - not policy-makers. But his thesis is that the guys on the ground - enlisted or lower level officers, non-comms are the one's who really DO make the policy.
So far, i've only read the preface and a few pages after that -- one thing is that he has defined the US as an Empire, but has defined an empire pretty loosely - by the total control a country has on on the rest of the world -- so it includes 'soft power' even things like novels, movies, comic books. And it's true that US culture is all over now.
His other thesis (again, early on) is that empires are created unconsciously and by the grunts who are on the periphery of the the empire - its far flung outposts. And it is created as response to security threats - he goes back to Persia, Rome etc. Not real fleshed out yet & he may not get there. He then jumps to his interactions with 'grunts'
So, I dunno if you 2+ guys are non-comms or went to the Vaval Post-grad school or JAG deconstructivist whatever.... But it might be interesting.