Sands of Empire: Missionary Zeal, American Foreign Policy, and the Hazards of Global Ambition

By Robert W. Merry

Book Overview

InSands of Empire,veteran political journalist and award-winning author Robert W. Merry examines the misguided concepts that have fueled American foreign policy since the end of the Cold War. The emergence in the George W. Bush administration of America as Crusader State, bent on remaking the world in its preferred image, is dangerous and self-defeating, he points out. Moreover, these grand-scale flights of interventionism, regime change, and the use of pre-emptive armed force are without precedent in American history.Merry offers a spirited description of a powerful political core whose ideas have replaced conservative reservations about utopian visions -- these neocons who "embrace a brave new world in which American exceptionalism holds sway," imagining that others around the globe can be made to abandon their cultures in favor of our ideals. He traces the strains of Wilsonism that have now merged into an adventurous and hazardous foreign policy, particularly as described by William Kristol, Francis Fukuyama, Max Boot, and Paul Wolfowitz, among others. He examines the challenge of Samuel Huntington's supposition that the clash of civilizations defines present and future world conflict. And he rejects the notion ofThe New York Times'sThomas L. Friedman that America is not only the world's role model for globally integrated free-market capitalism, but that it has a responsibility to foster, support, and sustain globalization worldwide.From the first president Bush to Clinton to the second Bush presidency, the United States has compromised its global leadership, endangered its security, and failed to meet the standard of justified intervention, Merry suggests. The country must reset its global strategies to protect its interests and the West's, to maintain stability in strategic areas, and to fight radical threats, with arms if necessary. For anything less than these necessities, American blood should remain in American veins.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743266676
• ISBN13: 9780743266673
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 302 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Must Read

Anyone who has read such books as "The Rise of the Vulcans", "The Pentagon's New Map", Bernard Lewis' "What Went Wrong? The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East", and "Where The Right Went Wrong" by Patrick Buchanan will find Merry's "Sands of Empire" a thoughtful synthesis of some of the issues raised by the above books and the Francis Fukuyama Samual Huntington debate. A CSPAN interview with Merry peaked...

America is NOT the center of the universe

This excellent book makes clear that American democracy is not right for every country specifically because every country is unique. As president and Publisher of Congressional Quarterly and a former Wall Street Journal reporter, Robert Merry is closely acquainted with government trappings. Even European democracies have cultural nuances from the American model. Attempting to require conformity to 'our' way of doing things...

Finally, Someone Makes it Clear

Anyone who fashions oneself a student of politics, political theory, history and foreign policy should read this book. For those of us who have neglected generations of great thinkers whose ideas guide practical uses for political science and theory, this is also an accessible refresher. Robert Merry shows respect to his readers by never underestimating our intelligence. That said, he never overestimates the information...

A Brilliant But Very Sobering Book

The book was for the author a labor of agitation. The book raises provocative and troubling questions. There are many hazards in the world today and additional hazards in how our country is dealing with these hazards. When we need less saber rattling, we now have more saber rattling. I think it can be argued that our leadership is not up to the task at hand. I think it also be argued that our under-educated electorate is not...

Thoughtful and Challenging Work

Anyone who fashions oneself a student of politics, political theory, history and foreign policy should read this book. Robert Merry shows respect to his readers by never underestimating our intelligence. That said, he never overestimates the information we have to use it. That makes Sands of Empire both stimulating and enlightening. He has crafted a circumspect and understandable, but not necessarily definitive, description...