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Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (American Empire Project)

Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (American Empire Project)
By Chalmers Johnson

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The long-awaited final volume of Chalmers Johnson’s bestselling
Blowback trilogy confronts the overreaching of the American empire and the threat it poses to the republic

In his prophetic book Blowback, Chalmers Johnson linked the CIA’s clandestine activities abroad to disaster at home. In The Sorrows of Empire, he explored the ways in which the growth of American militarism and the garrisoning of the planet have jeopardized our stability. Now, in Nemesis, he shows how imperial overstretch is undermining the republic itself, both economically and politically.
Delving into new areas—from plans to militarize outer space to Constitution-breaking presidential activities at home and the devastating corruption of a toothless Congress—Nemesis offers a striking description of the trap into which the dreams of America’s leaders have taken us. Drawing comparisons to empires past, Johnson explores in vivid detail just what the unintended consequences of our dependence on a permanent war economy are likely to be. What does it mean when a nation’s main intelligence organization becomes the president’s secret army? Or when the globe’s sole “hyperpower,” no longer capable of paying for the vaulting ambitions of its leaders, becomes the greatest hyper-debtor of all times?

In his stunning conclusion, Johnson suggests that financial bankruptcy could herald the breakdown of constitutional government in America—a crisis that may ultimately prove to be the only path to a renewed nation.
In his book Blowback, Chalmers Johnson linked the CIA's clandestine activities abroad to disaster at home. In The Sorrows of Empire, he explored how the growth of American militarism and the garrisoning of the planet have actually jeopardized our safety. Now, in Nemesis, the final volume in what has become the Blowback Trilogy, he shows how imperial overstretch is undermining the republic itself, both economically and politically.
 
Drawing comparisons to the Roman and British empires, Johnson explores in vivid detail just what the unintended consequences of our dependence on a permanent war economy are likely to be. Nemesis details the world of secrecy surrounding Capitol Hill, from government-sanctioned domestic spying, to unacknowledged CIA prisoners, to the dubious budgeting that backs it all up. Johnson documents the crippling militarism that has left what was once the greatest industrial power in the world producing mainly weaponry, and the corruption of a toothless Congress that is undermining the checks and balances so crucial to American democracy. In his stunning conclusion, Johnson suggests that a coming financial bankruptcy could herald the breakdown of constitutional government in America—a crisis that may ultimately prove to be the only path to a renewed nation.
"Nemesis provides fascinating information about the Department of Defense's practices, many of which have received little Congressional oversight and no public scrutiny. Relentless and resourceful, Mr. Johnson draws on obscure publications . . . to blow the whistle on the Pentagon's vast network of military bases, Status of Forces Agreements, and weapons designed to destroy the surveillance satellites of other countries."—Glenn C. Altschuler, The New York Observer
"When Johnson mines the recent history he has studied and experienced firsthand, the results are bracing . . . Johnson's important new book is something with which anyone who aspires to a worthwhile opinion about this country's future must now contend on terms at least as thoughtful as the author's."—Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times
 
"A well-written, detailed and stimulating display of the radical anti-imperialist critique of American foreign policy . . . Nemesis is good in sounding the alarm. Countervailing reactions are now clearly under way once again, and Johnson's book is a primer on much that needs to be done."—Patrick Morgan, The San Diego Union-Tribune 
 
"Nemesis provides fascinating information about the Department of Defense's practices, many of which have received little Congressional oversight and no public scrutiny. Relentless and resourceful, Mr. Johnson draws on obscure publications like The Orbital Debris Quarterly News to blow the whistle on the Pentagon's vast network of military bases, Status of Forces Agreements, and weapons designed to destroy the surveillance satellites of other countries."—Glenn C. Altschuler, The New York Observer
 
"Chalmers Johnson, a patriot who pulls no punches, has emerged as our most prescient critic of American empire and its pretensions. Nemesis is his fiercest book—and his best."—Andrew J. Bacevich, author of The New American Militarism
 
"Nemesis, the final volume in the remarkable Blowback trilogy, completes a true patriot's anguished and devastating critique of the militarism that threatens to destroy the United States from within. In detail and with unflinching candor, Chalmers Johnson decries the discrepancies between what America professes to be and what it has actually become—a global empire of military bases and operations; a secret government increasingly characterized by covert activities, enormous 'black' budgets, and near dictatorial executive power; a misguided republic that has betrayed its noblest ideals and most basic founding principles in pursuit of disastrously conceived notions of security, stability, and progress."—John Dower, author of Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
 
"Chalmers Johnson's voice has never been more urgently needed, and in Nemesis it rings with eloquence, clarity, and truth."—James Carroll, author of House of War
 
"Nemesis is a stimulating, sweeping study in which Johnson asks a most profound strategic question: Can we maintain the global dominance we now regard as our natural right?  His answer is chilling. You do not have to agree with everything Johnson says—I don't—but if you agree with even half of his policy critiques, you will still slam the book down on the table, swearing, 'We have to change this!'"—Joseph Cirincione, Senior Vice President for National Security and International Policy, Center for American Progress
 
"Nemesis is a five-alarm warning about flaming militarism, burning imperial attitudes, secret armies, and executive arrogance that has torched and consumed the Constitution and brought the American Republic to death's door. Johnson shares a simple, liberating, and healing path back to worthy republicanism. But the frightening and heart-breaking details contained in Nemesis suggest that the goddess of retribution will not be so easily satisfied before 'the right order of things' is restored."—Karen Kwiatkowski, retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel
 
"Last fall a treasonous Congress gave the president license to kidnap, torture—you name it—on an imperial scale. All of us, citizens and non-citizens alike, are fair game. Kudos for not being silent, Chalmers, and for completing your revealing trilogy with undaunted courage."—Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst; co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #341148 in Books
  • Published on: 2007-02-06
  • Released on: 2007-02-06
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 368 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Like ancient Rome, America is saddled with an empire that is fatally undermining its republican government, argues Johnson (The Sorrows of Empire), in this bleak jeremiad. He surveys the trappings of empire: the brutal war of choice in Iraq and other foreign interventions going back decades; the militarization of space; the hundreds of overseas U.S. military bases full of "swaggering soldiers who brawl and sometimes rape." At home, the growth of an "imperial presidency," with the CIA as its "private army," has culminated in the Bush administration's resort to warrantless wiretaps, torture, a "gulag" of secret CIA prisons and an unconstitutional arrogation of "dictatorial" powers, while a corrupt Congress bows like the Roman Senate to Caesar. Retribution looms, the author warns, as the American economy, dependent on a bloated military-industrial complex and foreign borrowing, staggers toward bankruptcy, maybe a military coup. Johnson's is a biting, often effective indictment of some ugly and troubling features of America's foreign policy and domestic politics. But his doom-laden trope of empire ("the capacity for things to get worse is limitless.... the American republic may be coming to its end") seems overstated. With Bush a lame duck, not a Caesar, and his military adventures repudiated by the electorate, the Republic seems more robust than Johnson allows. (Feb.)
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From Booklist
The third book in a series begun with Blowback (2000), which predicted harsh comeuppance for the post-cold war American "global empire," and The Sorrows of Empire (2004), which continued Johnson's thesis with a lambasting of American militarism pre- and post-September 11, this book continues the author's broad condemnation of American foreign policy by warning of imminent constitutional and economic collapse. In a chapter analyzing "comparative imperial pathologies," Johnson reminds readers of Hannah Arendt's point that successful imperialism requires that democratic systems give way to tyranny and asserts that the U.S. must choose between giving up its empire of military bases (as did Britain after World War II) or retaining the bases at the expense of its democracy (as did Rome). Johnson also predicts dire consequences should the U.S. continue to militarize low Earth orbits in pursuit of security. To some extent a timely response to recent arguments in favor of American empire, such as those of Niall Ferguson in Colossus, this account also reiterates Johnson's perennial concerns about overseas military bases, the CIA, and the artifice of a defense-fueled economy. Brendan Driscoll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"A sobering read." -- Kirkus Reviews

"An urgent warning for a country... Johnson is a national treasure. Let's hope we listen this time." -- Eugene Jarecki, Director of Why We Fight Grand Jury Prize Winner, Sundance Film Festival

"Anyone who aspires to a worthwhile opinion about this country's future must contend on terms at least as thoughtful as Johnson's." -- Los Angeles Times

"Fascinating." -- New York Observer

"Nemesis is particularly good in sounding the alarm. Johnson's book is a primer on what needs to be done." -- The San Diego Union-Tribune