Why you should care
The U.S. military budget (most of which is spent on goods and services from war corporations) takes up the largest amount of discretionary spending in the federal budget. This money could be going to education, healthcare, infrastructure, and sustainable energy—each of which creates more jobs than military spending. Today’s wars kill and maim the troops, degrade military professionalism, displace millions overseas, pollute the environment, and kill civilians. U.S. military bases, including those overseas, are avenues through which the war industry routes goods & services. Nobody wins, except Wall Street and corporate executives. We must bring the troops home, take care of them, and transfer the military budget to meet human needs instead of corporate profit.
Understanding the War Industry offers a piercing look at how the U.S. war industry wields authority and profits through such business sectors of war as information technology, nuclear weaponry, and special operations. Drawing upon an impressive body of research, Sorensen demonstrates how industry subverts democracy and commands the other two sides of the military-industrial-congressional triangle.
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What people are saying about Sorensen’s work
To an ever-increasing extent, the business of America is the business of war. But although Americans live in the shadow of a war economy, few understand the full extent of its power and influence. Thanks to Christian Sorensen’s deeply researched book into the military-industrial complex that envelops our society, such ignorance can no longer be an excuse.
ANDREW COCKBURN
Have you ever wondered why the United States is always at war? [Christian’s] meticulously researched book lays out in painstaking detail exactly how our nation has been captured by a war industry that profits from endless conflict and pursues profit at all costs. It will shock you, infuriate you, and hopeful inspire you to help dismantle the grotesque killing machine that steals our resources, wreaks havoc around the world, and leaves the merchants of death laughing all the way to the bank.
MEDEA BENJAMIN
Co-Director, CODEPINK
Christian Sorensen is the Seymour Melman of the 21st century, dissecting the military-industrial-congressional complex and providing us a way to understand this convoluted machine which exploits and oppresses the entire world. The U.S. government serves corporate interests and corporate interests have always put profits over people. Indeed, a necessary reading for anyone who wishes to understand how the world operates and, even more importantly, how forces are structured in keeping business-as-usual. Christian exposes this structure. Our goal, however, is to change it.
WILL GRIFFIN
Founder and Director of The Peace Report
A devastating account of American militarism, brilliantly depicted, and exhaustively researched in an authoritative manner. Sorensen’s book is urgent, fascinating reading for anyone who wants to save the country and the world from political, economic, and ecological disaster. Its message is so convincingly delivered that it will change many open minds forever and for the better.
RICHARD FALK
Footnotes