
Base Nation
David Vine(Author)
Metropolitan Books (imprint of Henry Holt & Company) (Publisher)
Published on 25. August 2015
Book
Hardback
432 pages
978-1-62779-169-4 (ISBN)
Description
As David Vine demonstrates, the overseas bases raise geopolitical tensions and provoke widespread antipathy towards the United States. They also undermine American democratic ideals, pushing the U.S. into partnerships with dictators and perpetuating a system of second-class citizenship in territories like Guam. They breed sexual violence, destroy the environment, and damage local economies. And their financial cost is staggering: though the Pentagon underplays the numbers, Vine's accounting proves that the bill approaches $100 billion per year. For many decades, the need for overseas bases has been a quasi-religious dictum of U.S. foreign policy. But in recent years, a bipartisan coalition has finally started to question this conventional wisdom. With the U.S. withdrawing from Afghanistan and ending thirteen years of war, there is no better time to re-examine the tenets of our military strategy. Base Nation is an essential contribution to that debate.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York, NY
United States
Publishing group
Henry Holt & Company Inc
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
868 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-62779-169-4 (9781627791694)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
08/2015
Metropolitan Books
€12.49
Available for download
Person
David Vine is the author of Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia and an associate professor of anthropology at American University in Washington, D.C. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Mother Jones, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, among other publications. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Content
Introduction 1
PART I: FOUNDATIONS
1. The Birth of Base Nation 17
2. From Little Americas to Lily Pads 45
PART II: FOOTPRINT
3. The Displaced 63
4. The Colonial Present 83
5. Befriending Dictators 97
6. In Bed with the Mob 115
7. Toxic Environments 135
PART III: LABOR
8. Everyone Serves 151
9. Sex for Sale 163
10. Militarized Masculinity 181
PART IV: MONEY
11. The Bill 195
12. "We're Profiteers" 215
13. The MilCon Con 233
PART V: CHOICES
14. "Masters of Extortion" 255
15. "It's Enough" 277
16. The Lily Pad Strategy 299
17. True Security 321
Author's Note 339
Notes 341
Online Resources 390
Acknowledgments 396
Index 405