Savage Wars of Peace, The

Boot celebrates American interventionism and imperialism, arguing that the military strategies involved in small wars of imperialism have been constant in American history and have demonstrated substantial success in dominating less-developed countries. His narrative history documents wars with the Barbary nations shortly after the American Revolution, numerous invasions of Central American nations, and the expansion of empire into the Pacific and notes that many of these efforts consisted of "low intensity" conflicts that dragged on for years. He argues that if the U.S. had maintained the same strategy for Vietnam, the nationalist insurgency might have been successfully suppressed.