More Praise for

Fear’s Empire

“In the great struggle now begun to define America’s role in the post–Cold War world, Professor Barber here provides the first coherent and insightful response to the dubious and dangerous doctrines of preemptive attack and preventive war. He proposes, instead, law and contract, cooperative alliance, and expanded internationalism—all identified with the best of American diplomacy and ideals. Fear’s Empire lays the foundation for a principled opposition based on America’s truest and best values.”

—Senator Gary Hart

“Although Barber is a political philosopher of the highest order, he is also an astute student of practical politics. . . . In Fear’s Empire he brings both his theoretical and normative experience to bear, launching a scathing, yet well-balanced critique of the unilateralist posture the United States has assumed over the past three years. . . . The war on terrorism is well under way, and Barber is astute enough to realize that it must be fought.”

—San Francisco Chronicle

“[Barber] provides a useful cautionary note for liberal empire enthusiasts.”

—Foreign Affairs

“Barber’s thesis is a tightly presented, pragmatic argument in favor of preventative democracy and multilateralism. It’s embellished and made unique by its examination of the myths of moral confidence.”

—Booklist

“A sane, brilliant and reasoned analysis of [the] darkest period in modern American history, it is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the disaster of state terror that followed the disaster of terrorism. . . . [A] wise, erudite, succinct and wholly admirable work.”

—The Globe and Mail (Canada)

“A sharp critique of the Bush foreign policy and strategic doctrines and of the dangerous assumptions on which they are based. This is a wise, learned and justifiably angry book, and a breath of fresh air.”

—Stanley Hoffmann, Buttenwieser University Professor,
Harvard University

“Abundantly sourced and annotated. . . . Provocative work from an incisive critic who occasionally waxes unblushingly utopian.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“Barber is not the first critic to point out the advantages of soft power as opposed to hard-handed politics. But in his perspicacity and precision he’s the one who can be most dangerous to the rhetoric of Bush’s neoconservative speech writers.”

—Financial Times (Germany)

“In this dark time of hollering unreason, rampant cynicism, and preemptive war(s), Fear’s Empire is a volume indispensable to our survival. With rare eloquence and extraordinary learning, Benjamin R. Barber marks the ever growing gap between Bush-Cheney’s rule and proper democratic practice, and elucidates as well the great catastrophe that is now U.S. ‘foreign policy.’ The book is bracing for its clarity, humanity, large-mindedness, and common sense—and downright precious for its sound suggestions as to where we, as a nation, should be going.”

—Mark Crispin Miller, author of The Bush Dyslexicon