Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire

The term "blowback," invented by the CIA, refers to the unintended consequences of American policies. In this sure-to-be-controversial book, Chalmers Johnson lays out in vivid detail the dangers faced by our overextended empire, which insists on projecting its military power to every corner of the earth and using American capital and markets to force global economic integration on its own terms. From a case of rape by U.S. servicemen in Okinawa to our role in Asia's financial crisis, from our early support for Saddam Hussein to our actions in the Balkans, Johnson reveals the ways in which our misguided policies are planting the seeds of future disaster.

In the wake of the Cold War, the United States has imprudently expanded the commitments it made over the previous forty years, argues Johnson. In Blowback, he issues a warning we would do well to consider: it is time for our empire to demobilize before our bills come due.

" Blowback is expansive thinking . . . a straight-talking analysis of America's global conduct during the cold war and since, and what we're eventually going to pay for it." —Patrick Smith, The Nation

"Boldy provocative . . . A useful and timely alert." —Richard Bernstein, The New York Times

"Stunning . . . No one has exposed the shortsightedness, hubris, corruption, and instability of our country's imperial overreach with such impassioned incisiveness. Blowback is a wake-up call for America." —John W. Dower, Pulitzer Prize–winning author