Reasons to Kill: Why Americans Choose War

From 1776 to the end of World War II, the United States spent nineteen years at war with other nations. Since 1950, the total is twenty-two years and counting. On four occasions, U.S. presidents elected as peace candidates have led the nation into bloody overseas conflicts. Repeatedly, wars deemed necessary and prudent have been shown in retrospect to be avoidable---and ill-advised.

Americans profess to be a peace-loving people, and one wary of foreign entanglements, yet we have been drawn into wars in distant lands from Vietnam to Afghanistan. We cherish our middle-class comforts and our children, yet we send those children as troops to Fallujah and Mogadishu. How is it that ordinary Americans, those with the most to lose, are so easily convinced to follow hawkish leaders---of both parties---into war?

In Reasons to Kill, noted scholar Richard E. Rubenstein explores both the rhetoric that sells war to the public and the underlying cultural and social factors that make that sales pitch so effective. With unmatched historical perspective and insightful commentary, Rubenstein offers us a new way to think for ourselves about the crucial issues of war and peace.

Richard E. Rubenstein is University Professor of Conflict Resolution and Public Affairs at George Mason University. He is the author of seven books, including When Jesus Became God and Aristotle's Children. He lives in Washington, D. C.