In this groundbreaking reflection on America's relationship with war in the modern era, Gregory A. Daddis explores the deep-seated tension between faith in and fear of war that has shaped US grand strategy and helped militarize US foreign policy with great costs at home and abroad. How have Americans conceptualized and understood the "promise and peril" of war since 1945? And how have their ideas and attitudes led to the
ever-increasing militarization of US foreign policy since the end of World War II?In a groundbreaking reassessment of the long Cold War era, historian Gregory A. Daddis argues that ever since the Second
World War's fateful conclusion, faith in and fear of war became central to Americans' thinking about the world around them. With war pervading nearly all aspects of American society, an interplay between blind faith and existential fear framed US policymaking and grand strategy, often with tragic results. These inherent tensions--an unwavering trust and confidence in war coupled with a fear that nearly all national security threats, foreign or domestic, are existential ones--have shaped
Americans' relationship with war that persists to the current day.A sweeping history, Faith and Fear makes a forceful argument by examining the tensions between Americans' overreaching
faith in war as a foreign policy tool and their overwhelming fear of war as a destructive force.
Industry Reviews
"In this sweeping history of US war after World War II, Gregory Daddis traces the coupling of fears that global developments might undermine US security with American leaders' often misplaced faith in war as a tool to safeguard the nation. Americans retained confidence in the effectiveness of war in spite of the repeated failure of US counterinsurgency efforts and their deadly impact on foreign civilians. A sobering and accessible account of the logics driving
forever war." -- Mary L. Dudziak, Author of War Time: An Idea, Its History, Its Consequences
"Ever since the US emerged as a global superpower, Americans have struggled to bend war to theirown purposes. In this brilliant and timely book, Gregory Daddis unpacks the contradictions inherent in that costly and futile effort. Faith and Fear is first-rate history and makes a vitally important contribution to understanding the predicaments facing the United States today.'" -- Andrew Bacevich, Co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
"Daddis has produced a grand synthesis of America's faith and fear of war. Since the Second World War, this dilemma has dominated US foreign policy and pervaded all aspects of American life. Daddis once again dazzles readers with the scope and depth of his analysis.'" -- Robert K. Brigham, Shirley Ecker Boskey Professor of History and International Relations, Vassar College
"Drawing on Daddis' unique expertise as both a US Army veteran and a distinguished historian of military and cultural history, Faith and Fear brilliantly reframes Washington's Cold War-era Grand Strategy as a product of Americans' fraught emotional relationship with the concept of war. Combining diplomatic, military, and cultural history, it reveals how a simultaneous faith in war as an instrument of policy and fear of its consequences came to define both the
culture of America's Cold War and its foreign policy.'" -- Jessica M. Chapman, Author of Remaking the World: Decolonization and the Cold War
"Gregory Daddis compelling argues in this impeccably researched and written tour de force that faith in and fear of war became a way for Americans to try to control the post-WWII world and their own place in it, leading to a militarized foreign policy and a society obsessed with security. This book should be required reading for every student of US foreign relations and military history." -- Kathryn C. Statler, Author of Replacing France: The Origins of
American Intervention in Vietnam
