Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15594 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Amazon.com Review
If the 20th century was the American century, the 21st century may be a time of reckoning for the United States. Chalmers Johnson, an authority on Japan and its economy, offers a troubling prognosis of what's to come. Blowback--the title refers to a CIA neologism describing the unintended consequences of American activity--is a call for the United States to rethink its position in the world. "The evidence is building up that in the decade following the end of the Cold War, the United States largely abandoned a reliance on diplomacy, economic aid, international law, and multilateral institutions in carrying out its foreign policies and resorted much of the time to bluster, military force, and financial manipulation," writes Johnson. "The world is not a safer place as a result." Individual chapters focus on Okinawa (where American servicemen were accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in "Asia's last colony"), the two Koreas, China, and Japan. The result is a liberal-leaning (and Asia-centric) call for the United States to disengage from many of its global commitments. Critics will call Johnson an isolationist, but friends (perhaps admirers of Patrick Buchanan's A Republic, Not an Empire) will say he simply speaks good sense. All will agree he is an earnest voice: "I believe our very hubris ensures our undoing." --John J. Miller

From Publishers Weekly
This no-holds-barred indictment of what Johnson calls the post-Cold War American "global empire" is not for the faint of heart. Among the opening images is a plastic bag containing three pairs of bloodied men's underwear gathered as evidence from the brutal 1995 gang rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl by two American marines and an American sailor, a crime that was officially passed off as an aberration but may qualify more accurately as another move in the endgame of, in Johnson's astringent phrase, "stealth imperialism." In his highly critical appraisal of the global U.S. military presence, Johnson, president of the Japan Policy Research Institute and prolific commentator on Japan and Asia, focuses on the effects of "blowback," a term coined by the CIA to denote the unintended consequences of policies that were in many cases kept secret from the American public. From anti-Chinese pogroms carried out by U.S.-trained soldiers in Indonesia to the viciously suppressed 1980 pro-democracy demonstration in Kwangju, South Korea, Johnson examines the fallout from what he sees as American "economic colonialism." Detailed assessments of American engagement in Japan, Korea and China are coupled with closer-to-home observations on the liquidation of American jobs in places such as Birmingham, Ala., and Pittsburgh, the latter yet another consequence of the massive U.S. trade deficit with the countries of East Asia. Brazenly spending ever-swollen defense budgets, Johnson argues, the Pentagon is fueling an "antiglobalization time bomb" that could blow up at any moment. His chilling conclusion--backed by copious and livid detail--is that a nation reaps precisely what it sows. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
"Blowback": it's a term coined by the CIA to describe the unforeseen consequences of U.S. foreign policy. Chalmers, president of the Japan Policy Research Institute, here takes us from Okinawa to the Balkans.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

The Best of Johnson's Trilogy!
In the Introduction to the book Mr. Johnson tells the reader the circumstances of when the term "Blowback" first appeared in a government document related to covert C.I.A. actions of 1953.

The author shares his critical view of the American empire and uses the U.S. military bases in Japan and Okinawa as examples.
He also examines the joint exercises that various U.S. military organizations perform with some nations known for brutal human rights violations.
On accountability he made this observation, "The Pentagon's most recent route around accountability is 'privatization' of it's training activities."

Another aspect of American imperialism is the actions of the International Monetary Fund that often leads to political instability.
On financing he discusses the enormous sums of money in the U.S defense budget to maintain access to Persian Gulf oil and why that's a priority.

"The American Empire has become skilled at developing self-fulfilling and self-serving prophecies in order to justify it's policies." -page 92.
No truer words have been written about the subject.

He offers up an accurate assessment of free trade, particularly with China. "The second aspect of human rights in China we must recognize is to ensure that poor working conditions and prison labor in China (and elsewhere) do not end up destroying the livelihood of American workers."

Chalmers Johnson clarified the financial as well as the military aspect of the American empire citing the positions of Adam Smith and John Hobson.
"Smith and Hobson both believed that finance capitalism produced the pathologies of the global economy they called mercantilism and imperialism."
He observes that capitalists are seldom happy with being capitalists and would prefer being monopolists, inside traders, or usurers.

After reading all three of Chalmers Johnson's trilogy books, I regard "Blowback, Second Edition" as the best.
If you want to understand how the American empire works and why blowback happens, this book is a "must read".
It covers the many aspects of American imperialism and in an easily understood fashion. Destined to be a foreign policy classic, if it isn't already!

American Empire Triology
Chalmers Johnson in "Blowback" presciently and eerily predicts 9/11 or a similar event. Published in 2000 the analysis should be required reading for all interested in foreign policy and how the "American Empire" is perceived by those subject to it. An outstanding contribution to the literature.

Fascinating
Nutshell review - A fascinating look at the build up and consequence of American military power and presence across the globe. Interesting, well written, and very worth reading whether one agrees with the conclusions or not.