Metropolitan Books
Base Nation
Key Metrics
- David Vine
- Metropolitan Books
- Hardcover
- 9781627791694
- 9.2 X 6.4 X 1.5 inches
- 1.7 pounds
- Political Science > Security (National & International)
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
From Italy to the Indian Ocean, from Japan to Honduras, a far-reaching examination of the perils of American military bases overseas
American military bases encircle the globe. More than two decades after the end of the Cold War, the U.S. still stations its troops at nearly a thousand locations in foreign lands. These bases are usually taken for granted or overlooked entirely, a little-noticed part of the Pentagon's vast operations. But in an eye-opening account, Base Nation shows that the worldwide network of bases brings with it a panoply of ills--and actually makes the nation less safe in the long run.
As David Vine demonstrates, the overseas bases raise geopolitical tensions and provoke widespread antipathy towards the United States. They also undermine American democratic ideals, pushing the U.S. into partnerships with dictators and perpetuating a system of second-class citizenship in territories like Guam. They breed sexual violence, destroy the environment, and damage local economies. And their financial cost is staggering: though the Pentagon underplays the numbers, Vine's accounting proves that the bill approaches $100 billion per year.
For many decades, the need for overseas bases has been a quasi-religious dictum of U.S. foreign policy. But in recent years, a bipartisan coalition has finally started to question this conventional wisdom. With the U.S. withdrawing from Afghanistan and ending thirteen years of war, there is no better time to re-examine the tenets of our military strategy. Base Nation is an essential contribution to that debate.
Author Bio
David Vine is Professor of political anthropology at American University in Washington, DC. David's newest book, The United States of War: A Global History of America's Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State?, was published by the University of California Press. The book was a finalist for the 2020 L.A. Times Book Prize in History.
The United States of War is the third in a trilogy of books about war and peace. The other books in the trilogy are Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World (Metropolitan/Henry Holt, 2015) and Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia (Princeton University Press, 2009).
As part of the Network of Concerned Anthropologists, David helped compile and write Militarization: A Reader (Duke University Press, 2019) and The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual or, Notes on Demilitarizing American Society, (Prickly Paradigm Press, 2009). David's other writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, Mother Jones, Boston Globe, Huffington Post, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, among others.
David is a board member of the Costs of War Project and a co-founder of the Overseas Base Realignment and Closure Coalition. David is a contributor to TomDispatch.com and Foreign Policy in Focus.
As a believer in the importance of public education systems (apologies to American University), David is proud to have received his PhD and MA degrees from the City University of New York's Graduate Center.
David feels at home in many places but has lived for much of his life in New York City, Oakland, and the Washington, DC area, where he was briefly a dancing waiter.
All royalties from David's books and all speaker honorariums are donated to the Chagossian people and nonprofit organizations serving other victims of war.
Source: davidvine.net
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