Book Description
From two-time Pulitzer Prizewinning historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., comes one of the most important and influential investigations of the American presidency. The Imperial Presidency traces the growth of presidential power over two centuries, from George Washington to George W. Bush, examining how it has both served and harmed the Constitution and what Americans can do about it in years to come. The book that gave the phrase "imperial presidency" to the language, this is a work of "substantial scholarship written with lucidity, charm, and wit" (The New Yorker).
Customer Reviews:
This is a great classical book.......2007-05-23
We read this in college and it was one of the best books we ever saw on American politics and I read it again last week. Ir shows that it is not a good idea always to have presidents who get too powerful.
One of the great presidency books.......2007-02-15
Does history repeat itself? Sure seems like it. Scary stuff.
Back and Improved...At Last!.......2004-10-29
The year before George W. Bush took office as president I attended a professional conference where a graduate student offered a paper that posed the question whether Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.'s "Imperial Presidency" was still valid. Quite a debate ensued. Today, in the wake of the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war, and its application in Iraq, I am compelled to offer that this revised volume, with new introduction, answers the previous question with a resounding yea. This has been a very important volume in the study of the presidency, especially regarding the constitution, foreign policy, and war. In the shadow of the Iraqi affair, I would go one step further and say it is a vital work in these troubled times. No, the era of the Imperial Presidency never really went away; and yes, it is a vital concern for the future of the republic and global stability. Schlesinger has recognized this and once again warns us of pending dangers.
Once again important.......2003-03-27
Although this book focuses on Richard Nixon's abuse of Presidential power, it can apply to the present day as well. Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush have all extended the power of the Presidency in ways the framers of the Constitution would never have dreamed of. I agree with the reviewer who commented about the favoritism towards Kennedy and Roosevelt hence the four stars rather than five. A great read for anyone interested in the American Constitution as it relates to the powers of the President.
Schlesinger's most revolutionary book to date!.......2003-01-15
Not Schlesinger's best work, however the Imperial Presidency may be his most revolutionary book to date. The book tended to be quite redundant and repetitive. He also placed the best two chapters first, which in turn may not have been the best move. Although this book has its downsides (mentioned above) the chapters on Nixon and Secrecy are well worth the read. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn about the powers of the presidency and Congress and the feud between the two, which has so evidently become a part of our daily lives.
Book Description
Concerned about the dangers of unchecked executive power, the Founding Fathers deliberately assigned Congress the sole authority to make war. But the last time Congress did so was in 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harborsince then, every president from Harry Truman to George W. Bush has used military force in pursuit of imperial objectives without congressional authorization. In vivid detail, War Powers recounts this story of subversion from above. Drawing on congressional hearings, Supreme Court opinions, media reports, and scholarly accounts, legal historian Peter Irons examines how the Constitution has been stretched, distorted, and violated as presidents usurped a shared, solemn powereschewing congressional approval and often suspending civil liberties in the process. An insightful and rousing history, War Powers takes us up to the recent preemptive invasion of Iraq, offering a necessary account of our most pressing contemporary constitutional crisis.
Customer Reviews:
Who has the POWER to make WAR?.......2005-12-12
Political science professor (University of California - San Diego) Peter Irons poses to answer one question, "Why and how do we go to war?" "War Powers" is a clear and concise answer to the question that starts with exploring our country's humble beginnings, the framing of the U.S. Constitution (1787), to probing the background of George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq (2003).
The subtitle of Irons' book, "How The Imperial Presidency Hijacked The Constitution," is a precise foreshadowing of the book's contents. Irons' meticulous research, most notably the actions of presidents beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt and on, are powerful reminders of how presidents have overstepped their constitutional powers. The author stresses Congress has only declared five wars as Congress continued to abdicate its constitutional war power while the presidency became increasingly imperial. Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and both Bushs have all claimed an "inherent" right to initiate military action without prior congressional approval.
"War Powers" is valuable for it shows how the U.S. rose to its current position as the sole supreme power. But more importantly, the treatise is a warning and a call to return war-making powers "to their constitutional home in Congress, as the Framers intended." Irons shines light on the erosion of our country's foundation, which often has been completely dismissed by presidents like Franklin D. Roosevelt who stated, "The Constitution is just a piece of paper."
Bohdan Kot
Good account of the evolution of Presidential Ceasarism.......2005-12-11
Mr. Irons presents a good history of the deterioration of our government's understanding of the war-making power, from the democratic mechanism enshrined in our Constitution by our Founding Fathers requiring Congressional authorization for war, to the dictatorial war-making powers claimed (and exercised) by modern day Presidents, and abetted by a supine Congress.
There should be no dispute that the Founding Fathers intended that Congress should initiate war and the President should merely prosecute it, until the Congress decides to conclude hostilities. James Madison said, "...those who are to conduct a war cannot in the nature of things, be proper or safe judges, whether a war ought to be commenced, continued or concluded. They are barred from the latter functions by a great principle in free government, analogous to that which separates the sword from the purse or the power of executing from the power of enacting laws". (pg 26) The Constitution spells out that intention with utter clarity, and it appears that the US government respected that provision until the Lincoln regime, when the old Constitutional order was finally overthrown, although technically Lincoln claimed he was suppressing a rebellion, rather than fighting a formal "war". Some may point to President Polk's instigation of the Mexican War as the point when this Constitutional balance was first challenged, but I would view Polk's military machinations as duplicitous, manipulative and certainly illegal, but not as a direct legal challenge to the war-declaring powers of Congress. A previous reviewer points to unilateral military actions on the part of Washington and Jefferson, but I'm not sure what he's referring to. In response to barbary piracy, Washington sent Congress a message saying that, "...it rests with Congress to decide between war, tribute and ransom as the means of re-establishing our Mediterranean commerce". (pg 30) Jefferson as well asked Congress in 1801 for_permission_to send warships to protect US ships from the Barbary pirates. (pg 42) Both Presidents made explicit declarations of Congressional supremacy in that regard. People may debate exactly when the Constitutional arrangement really started to fall apart, but I think it is pretty certain that it really first began to be challenged in the early 20th century, with Teddy Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, etc. leading to the obscene modern spectacle of a whole string of Presidents explicitly declaring that they alone have the power of unleashing war on any country in the world.
It is almost unbelievable that there are men in a Democratic Republic, besides Ceasar-worshippers, dual loyalist war-mongers (neoconservatives) and arms dealers who would tolerate such an idea from an American Chief Executive, but such men exist in abundance today, in government, academia and opinion-shaping industries who not only tolerate such an idea but promote it for their own perverted ends. That's where I wish Mr. Irons would have expanded his topic- the reasons and motivations behind the mass acquiescence to a dictatorial power-grab by the Executive branch. Is it cowardice? Intimidation? Ignorance? I wish we could have heard some theories about this. Also, in his section on the curtailment of civil liberties during wartime, I wish he would have made mention of the great Sedition trials of WW II, but perhaps the story of those victims, being right wingers, don't register on the radar screens of left-wing professors. Also, Mr. Irons blames the ambiguity and toothlessness of the War Powers Resolution for continued Presidential defiance of the Constitution but I don't believe he made mention of the fact that the Supreme Court has actually struck down certain portions of the resolution. Apart from those quibbles, this is a very good book which liberty-loving citizens should read and act upon, if they value the freedoms bequeathed to us by our Founding Fathers and maintained, to varying degrees of success, by the blood, sweat and treasure of generations of patriots.
Nothing new.......2005-09-20
Irons tries to argue that the imperial presidency is somehow tied to American imperialism abroad. But he never makes his case; instead, he rants and raves about presidential actions he dislikes while ignoring those which contradict his view.
For example, he argues that presidents before Polk all followed to the letter the Constitution's grant of declaring war to Congress - no unilateral presidential war-making. But in fact, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both undertook military actions without the consent of Congress. Is there a difference between those small wars and others? Irons never tells us.
Irons doesn't uncover anything new or make any original arguments. Don't buy it.
Customer Reviews:
PW Botha- South Africa's 'Great Crocodile'.......2000-12-14
South African journalist Brian Pottinger's book, published in 1988, is
about the career of his country's former political strongman, PW
Botha- the Groot Krokodil (Great Crocodile). The sub-title of
"Imperial Presidency" is "PW Botha the first 10
years."In fact Botha's careeer ended with his retirement just 11
months later,in mid August 1989, when, he abruptly announced his
retirement 3 weeks before a general election which saw his successor,
FW de Klerk, returned to power-the last white National Party leader of
the RSA. Pottinger's book is not a biography of PW but rather a review
of Botha's tumultous era at the helm of his embattled country;what
sort of nation he sought to establish, his limitations, mistakes as
well as successes and opportunities gained and squandered. The first
part looks at PW's accession to power amidst a bitter party fight
after the Info-gate scandal which cost Information Minister, Connie
Mulder, any chance of succeeding the retiring PM,John Vorster, in the
top job. Instead out of the political wreckage Defence Minister PW
Botha emerged victorious. The second part looks at PW's victory over
his own party's conservatives, his cajoling of the white electorate to
accept limited reform, socio-economic changes, improved
government-business relations, the co-opting of minorities into the
political system (ie. coloureds and Indians) and foreign and regional
relations. Thirdly, Pottinger looks at the failures of PW's
initiatives, and the rise of the 'securocrats' amidst the escalating
domestic violence. The last section looks at PW's legacy and he is
more critical of him than I would be, given that Botha was a reformer
in almost impossible circumstances- ANC violence at home,
international meddlers abroad decrying every reform as insufficient,
and an increasingly powerful Right-wing Conservative Party, that had
developed as a breakaway from the ruling Nats, quickly becoming the
official Opposition. Interestingly Pottinger concludes his book by
describing the task of leading South Africa back to 'limited
international acceptance' as 'difficult to conceive.... short of
surrender to a black majority government-something which is unlikely
even in the medium-term.' Just over a year later, in Feb.1990, Mandela
was released, serious negotiations between the Nats and the ANC begun
and by 1994 the last white government on the African continent had
gone. Some did label it a 'surrender,'others a 'courageous acceptance
of reality.'
Since his retirement,Botha, now almost 85, has been
hounded and harassed by the ANC government through the Orwellian star
chamber, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a one-sided ,
stacked body that is prepared to look at the sins of the former
government, rather than the ANC. However, Pottinger's book is an
interesting read about the second last white leader of the RSA and
the frenetic times in which he operated.
Book Description
AK Press Audio is proud to present Chomsky versus the commander in chief. This is not another cataloging of the offenses and blunders committed by George W. Bush, but a lively chronicle of the systematic power plays that have been either ignored or downplayed in the media for the past four years. World public opinion-what The New York Times has dubbed "the second superpower"-has helped curb much of the "imperial sovereignty" being carved out by the Bush administration, but the full scope of their plans has, until now, not been explored.
Among the revelations analyzed, Chomsky discusses the Justice Department's recommendation that the United States rescind the Geneva Conventions in order to reduce the threat of the United States being convicted under the War Crimes Act of 1996. Under the act, Bush himself could be put to death for grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions under his watch. Furthermore, the National Security Strategy of 2002 introduced the active use of "anticipatory self-defense" and, by design, undermined the UN Charter and international law.
Never one to dwell too long on the negative, Chomsky digs into the elections of 2005, "concocted by the PR Industry," and shows that Bush's power base is anything but solid. Choosing between candidates in 2004 was comparable to choosing a toothpaste. Across a wide spectrum of public opinion, a considerable majority of Americans support primary health care, increased environmental protection (including the signing of the Kyoto protocols), increased education spending, and allowing the United Nations to take the lead in international affairs. This is hardly the public from which Bush claims to have received his "mandate."
Noam Chomsky is the world's foremost social critic, father of the modern science of linguistics, and author of over 90 books and nine AK Press Audio CDs.
Customer Reviews:
Noam is a self described Libertarian Socialist - Whats That.......2006-09-22
KEEP THIS DEFINITION IN MIND WHEN YOU READ NOAMS STUFF. DO YOU WANT TO BE LIVE IN A COMMUNIST....I MEAN LIBERTARIAN SOCIALIST STATE.
Libertarian socialism includes a group of political philosophies that aims to create a society without political, economic or social hierarchies - a society within which individuals freely co-operate together as equals. This would be achieved through the abolition of private property, thereby restoring direct control of the means of production and resources to the working class and other unpropertied classes. Additionally, its advocates have also expressed the notion that libertarian socialism is a tendency of thought that informs the identification, criticism and practical dismantling of illegitimate authority in all aspects of social life. Accordingly they believe that "the exercise of power in any institutionalised form -- whether economic, political or sexual -- brutalises both the wielder of power and the one over whom it is exercised." [1]
Critically important listening for anyone concerned with the current direction of American federal policy .......2005-12-14
"The Imperial Presidency: Sovereignty,Terror, And The Second Superpower" by linguist, academician, and political analyst Noam Chomsky is now available as a 64-minute CD audio recording. Taped on November 2004, just after the reelection of George W. Bush, Chomsky accurately pinpoints the principle commitments of the current Bush administration. Acting in the name of expanding markets and controlling access to key natural resources, the Bush administration's "neo-cons" have blatantly been undermining democratic practices, exhibited contempt for international law, systematically restricted civil liberties, and utilized the state terrorism to further their foreign poicy objectives. "The Imperial Presidency" offers a lively chronicle of the systematic power-plays by Bush and his cronies to effectively wrench power from ordinary people and in doing so, has made the world an increasingly unstable and hostile place to inhabit for Americans and for everyone else in the world. "The Imperial Power" is critically important listening for anyone concerned with the current direction of American federal policy and White House machinations on both the domestic and the international stages.
"Huge profits beyond the dreams of avarice.".......2005-11-07
The 64 minute audio CD "The Imperial Presidency: Sovereignty, Terror and the Second Superpower" is a lecture delivered by Noam Chomsky shortly after the re-election of George Bush in November 2004.
The lecture is divided into 11 subsections:
History and the Second Superpower
Controlling the Great Beast
Rescinding the Geneva Convention
Demystifying Pre-Emptive War
The Principle of Universality
Polling the Great Beast of Public Opinion
The Threat of Terrorism vs. the Real U.S. Priorities
What the Great Beast Wants and Why it is Deceived
What is Old Europe anyway?
America's Messianic Vision of Democracy
Making Use of Our Freedom to Fight Back.
Chomsky discusses the morality of the "pre-emptive war" and argues that "elementary moral truisms" demand the rejection of the ethics of a preemptive war. Calling the Iraq War a "supreme international crime" Chomsky describes the incidents that occurred in November 2004 at Fallujah General Hospital as a violation of the Geneva Conventions. Prior to the storming of Fallujah in 2004, the hospital was taken over, and Iraqi doctors hogtied in the hallways. It was, Chomsky argues, the Bush administration's goal to "shut down the propaganda weapon" of the images of civilian dead and wounded. What else can you expect from an administration that considers the Geneva Conventions "quaint"?
Chomsky discusses the power of public opinion and how "political campaigns are designed" by the same companies who sell other products--in the case of politics, however, the product being sold is the candidate. Chomsky explains how the image of Bush as a "spoiled frat boy from Yale" was transformed to create a "homespun image" with general appeal to the average American voter. Chomsky uses the November 2004 election to illustrate the use of advertising in political campaigns--stressing the fact that the advertising isn't designed to present information to inform the voter but rather the advertising campaigns are designed to deceive the voter. He cites a figure--10% of voters vote on agenda--with the other 90% of the voters for the candidate's perceived qualities or image.
Using healthcare as an example, Chomsky makes a fascinating point about the issues placed on the table during an election year. He argues that most Americans are concerned to one degree or another about improving healthcare, but that thanks to the influence of the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical companies, and Wall Street, the issue of universal healthcare in America is written off as "politically impossible." Consequently, healthcare while of immense importance to most Americans (and an issue that stands to make a tremendous difference to the lives of average Americans) was not a substantial issue for either candidate. It's strange when you consider that the entire country looks forward to these four-year election rituals anticipating that something in the social structure of the country may change, when really the status quo seems to go on more or less the same as before.
In spite of the grim political reality of November 2004, Chomsky injects a note of hope into his lecture when he recalls that the people of Spain managed to vote out a government that refused to consider the tide of public opinion. For those who enjoy Chomsky, this information-packed audio CD is yet another meaty lecture from one of America's greatest intellectuals. For those who dislike Chomsky's politics, there's plenty here to annoy you--displacedhuman
Product Description
Indian Reprint of 1909 book. Volume II of two volumes. This is first rate source material for researchers and scholars of Modern India.
Book Description
Who has been at the political forefront of clean air policy development in the United States? In The Politics of Air Pollution, George A. Gonzalez argues that the answer is neither the federal government, nor environmental groups, but rather locally oriented economic elites in conjunction with state and local governments. These local growth coalitions, composed of mostly large landholders, land developers, and the owners of regional media and utility firms, support clean air policies insofar as they contribute to the creation of a positive investment climate and, in turn, bring about greater profits through increased land values and an expanded local consumer base.
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- The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal
- The New Crusades: Constructing the Muslim Enemy
- The New Ruthless Economy: Work and Power in the Digital Age
- The Origin of Language: Tracing the Evolution of the Mother Tongue
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Books Index
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General
| 20th Century
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
War and the American Presidency
The Crisis of the Old Order: 1919-1933, The Age of Roosevelt, Volume I (The Age of Roosevelt)
The Coming of the New Deal: 1933-1935, The Age of Roosevelt, Volume II (The Age of Roosevelt)
A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House
Robert Kennedy and His Times
![Imperial Ambitions : Conversations on the Post-9/11 World [American Empire Project] (American Empire Project)](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000GQLCV4.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
