The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic

Praise for THE SORROWS OF EMPIRE

“Chalmers Johnson is a legendary scholar....In this cri de coeur, he asks us to grasp, before it is too late, that America’s modern militarist empire threatens to destroy the democratic republic. His analysis is powerful and dreadfully persuasive.”

—William Greider, author of

The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy

“When a nation falls into sinful ways, angry words and dire prognostications may be necessary to reawaken people to the truth. In Chalmers Johnson, the American empire has found its Jeremiah. He deserves to be heard.”

—Andrew Bacevich, The Washington Post Book World

“Since the mainstream media have abdicated their responsibility to be watchdogs of government and to serve the public, books like The Sorrows of Empire are essential if we are to defend ourselves against the military-industrial-Congressional complex.”

—Janeane Garofalo

“A fine guide to the way empire works ... Chalmers Johnson is particularly instructive on the institutions of American militarism, on the private military contractors who build and run the overseas bases and prisons, on the actual operations of the more than 725 American bases around the world, on the politics of oil and gas in the Caspian Basin and on the dominant political, military and economic presence in the states of the Persian Gulf.”

—Ronald Steel, The Nation

“Superbly researched.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Johnson’s book is a stunner. He blows away the Defense Department’s cover story that our empire of military bases exists to support humanitarian intervention. Something funny is happening on the way to the American forum: citizens are discovering they have an empire they never wanted—paid for in casualties, with civil liberties the first victim.”

—Patrick Lloyd Hatcher, U.S. Army colonel (retired), author of The Suicide of an Elite: American Internationalists and Vietnam

“Engaging and provocative ... The Sorrows of Empire’s warnings are serious, and its arguments should certainly be considered in the ongoing debate over American foreign policy.”

—James D. Fairbanks, Houston Chronicle

“This isn’t just another left-wing excoriation of George W. Bush. Johnson’s searing indictments of U.S. policy transcend party lines and extend farther back than the 2000 election....Johnson’s keen eye for historical comparisons is the book’s greatest strength.”

—Seattle Weekly

“There is no more important book to read than The Sorrows of Empire. Like Rome, the United States today is struggling with the consequences of a permanent global military engagement, from which self-dealing political elites derive great benefits at the expense and ultimately the survival of America’s heretofore resilient republic.”

—Steven C. Clemons, executive vice president, New America Foundation

“Chalmers Johnson’s searing indictment of America’s flirtation with an imperial foreign policy should be required reading for all concerned citizens. The Sorrows of Empire is an extremely important and disturbing book.”

—Ted Galen Carpenter, vice president,

Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute

“Precisely because he’s probably right, Johnson’s The Sorrows of Empire is as maddening as it is important.”

—Ted Rall, The San Diego Union-Tribune

“Chalmers Johnson’s relentless logic, authoritative scholarship, and elegantly biting prose distinguish The Sorrows of Empire, like all his other work. Anyone who reads it will have a much sharper sense of the costs of America’s new world-girdling commitments—and I hope it is widely read.”

—James Fallows, author of Breaking the News