I often receive unsolicited books from authors. When I do, I quickly thumb through the table of contents and if it grabs my attention, I peruse the book. I can usually tell very quickly whether it is the type of book that I wish to read or that should be reviewed by The Future of Freedom Foundation.
A little over a year ago, I received a book entitled The War State: The Cold War Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex and the Power Elite, 1945-1963 by Michael Swanson. I had never heard of Swanson but the title of the book and its cover immediately caught my attention. The cover had a picture of President Dwight Eisenhower delivering his 1961 Farewell Address in which he warned the American people about the danger that the U.S. military-industrial complex posed to the liberties and democratic processes of the American people.
I proceeded to examine the table of contents, which contained the following entries:
The Emergence of the War State
The Rise of the Military-Industrial Complex and the Power Elite
The Atomic Bomb and the Cold War
Constitutional Principles Displaced by Iron Triangles
The Permanent Government
John F. Kennedy Faces the Permanent Government
Targeting Everything Red
Khrushchev, Kennedy, and the Killing Machines
Conclusion—A Twenty-First Century of Debt
I didn’t need to peruse the book. The table of contents was enough to get me to take the book home and immediately start reading it.
Once I started, I couldn’t put it down. It was an absolutely awesome book. In fact, it is one of the best books that I have ever read on the origins of the national-security state apparatus that was grafted onto our governmental system after World War II and on the horrific and disastrous consequences that that has had on American life.
Since I’ve already done an extremely lengthy (and positive) review of the book, which is posted here, there is no need to do another review. Here is another very positive review by James Di Eugenio at the website Citizens for Truth About the Kennedy Assassination.
So, why am I bringing up Swanson’s book again? The reason is that he just dropped the price of his ebook on Amazon to 99 cents! I don’t know if it’s a temporary drop or a permanent one. Don’t take a chance. Buy the book now. This is one heckuva great price for an absolutely fantastic book.
And while you’re at Amazon, if you haven’t already done so, please be sure to also buy The Kennedy Autopsy by Jacob G. Hornberger and JFK’s War With the National Security State by Douglas P. Horne, each of which is also only 99 cents. Both books are still in Amazon’s list of the Top 100 Bestselling Books in 20th-century American History.
