The Empire Has No Clothes - 2nd Edition by Ivan Eland (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Most Americans don't think of their government as an empire, but in fact the United States has been steadily expanding its control of overseas territories since the turn of the twentieth century. Now, through political intimidation and over 700 military bases worldwide, the U.S. holds sway over an area that dwarfs the great empires of world history.

In The Empire Has No Clothes, Ivan Eland, a leading expert on U.S. defense policy and national security, examines American military interventions around the world from the Spanish-American War to the invasion of Iraq.

Eland shows that the concept of empire is wholly contrary to the principles of both liberals and conservatives and that it makes a mockery of the Founding Fathers' vision for a free republic. Eland also warns that in recent years, "blowback" and the enormous expansion of domestic federal power resulting from this overextended empire have begun to threaten the American homeland itself and curtail the very liberties these interventions were supposed to protect.

Public debate of the United States' role in the world has finally begun in earnest, and Ivan Eland delivers a penetrating argument in this landmark book, exposing the imperial motives behind interventionist U.S. policy, questioning the historical assumptions on which it is based and advocating a return to the Founding Fathers' vision of military restraint overseas.

Review Quotes

"The Empire Has No Clothes is a very important book. There are a lot of books out now about empire, but this is probably the most searching and the most provocative. I do hope you will read it and spread the word, and have all your friends and parents and whatever children you have read it too. The debate extends far beyond just the current situation. This book could have been written even if we had not gone to war two years ago in Iraq. We have had an empire by anyone's definition. This book will pinpoint some of these issues for all of you."--C. BOYDEN GRAY, former Chief Counsel to the President of the United States

"The Empire Has No Clothes is a worthy tome written by Ivan Eland. He has observed imperialistic interventions by both right- and left-wing administrations--from George H. W. Bush through Bill Clinton to George W. Bush himself. His jaundice about their rhetoric and actions is both well documented and well deserved. He is obviously familiar with all the current proponents of American empire--from imports such as British historian Niall Ferguson to home grown pith-helmet and jodhpur-wearing wannabes Robert Kagan and Wall Street Journal essaying Max Boot--and their arguments and smoothly picks them apart. Observations like these are fairly frequent and quite entertaining and it's worth buying the book for these alone."--ASIA TIMES

"I can honestly say I found The Empire Has No Clothes to be factually well grounded and extremely well thought out. The logic is sound as is the scholarship from my perspective. The Independent Institute should be commended for its role is supporting neutral research which is driven neither by the politics of the left or the right."--RINALDO S. BRUTOCO, President, The World Business Academy

"In The Empire Has No Clothes, Dr. Eland shows that the concept of empire is wholly contrary to the principles of liberals and conservatives alike and makes a mockery of the Founding Fathers' vision for a free republic."--RON PAUL, U.S. Congressman

"Is the United States an empire? Yes, writes Ivan Eland of the Independent Institute. Washington dominates the affairs of many allied and client states without occupying them. This wasn't the vision of America's Founders. But World Wars I and II and the Cold War transformed Washington's international role. As Mr. Eland argues in The Empire Has No Clothes, a book bound to irritate and even enrage, today's expansive foreign policy is not just unnecessarily expensive--think of hundreds of thousands of troops stationed overseas to protect wealthy allies--but dangerous."--WASHINGTON TIMES

About the Author

Ivan Eland is senior fellow and director of the Center on Peace & Liberty at The Independent Institute. His articles have appeared in such publications as the Chicago Sun-Times, Newsday, and USA Today, and he has appeared on the BBC, CNN, Radio Free Europe, NPR's Talk of the Nation, and World News Tonight. He is the author of The Efficacy of Economic Sanctions as a Foreign Policy Tool.