This is an incredible book that was written at either exactly the right time or the worst possible time. It will certainly play into the jaws of the political divide that is paralyzing the US at the moment, although I don’t believe that is the author’s intent.
It is not a political book. I don’t recall that either political party is ever mentioned by name. And the most popular political slogans of the day are skillfully, and intentionally, I believe, omitted. It is a book specifically about American foreign policy and why we seem to be, in fact are, constantly at war beyond our borders.
It is ultimately the story of Smedley Butler, one of the most celebrated, decorated, and famous Marines of the early 20th Century, who fought in wars from Cuba to Haiti to the Philippines and China. Fifteen of those conflicts are covered here, covering a period from 1898 – 1927.
Ultimately, however, he concluded that he and his fellow Marines had been duped. He wasn’t risking his life to promote democracy or to defend the oppressed. He was often part of the oppression, both literally and figuratively. He was fighting, pure and simple, to protect and/or further the interests of America’s capitalists who ultimately control the American political process.
“I spent 33 years and 4 months in active service as a member of our country’s most agile military force – the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from a second lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism.”
It is a fascinating story, very well written, and exhaustively researched. Katz actually travels to many of the places that play prominent roles in Butler’s story. And it is a history you most certainly did not learn in school.
The wars were often surgical in precision, sometimes clandestine, and more than a few times involved more money than men. But the defense industry always benefited. As did the capitalists who wanted to expand their empires and engorge their coffers. In Smedley’s days that usually meant the oil companies. Today it is the tech companies who look to expand their markets through the use of a favorable American foreign policy that often puts America’s true interests – the interests of all of the people – at risk. And, of course, the companies that make the instruments of war always, always, always benefited, often immensely so.
In the end this is not a critique of the military. And some wars are clearly justified for legitimate reasons. It would have been immoral, for example, for the US not to join WWII.
It is really a book about Orwellian doublespeak and could have easily been titled “War is Peace.” And a book about an incredibly brave but complex and far from angelic Marine named Smedley Butler.
I highly recommend you read it.
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Something that isn’t taught in school
Overall, it is an enjoyable book. If you have read something like Immerwahr’s “How to Hide an Empire” or a classic like Zinn, Katz tries to popularize something that isn’t taught in school – the 20th century project of colonialism. Once there were no more natives to kill, the US looked outward for new frontiers and found them. Katz traces the career of Smedley Butler, a man who rose to be a high-ranking Marine General and whose career really parallels the rise of American colonialism starting with the Spanish American War in the extremely late 1800s.The book is stylistically interesting because it’s not straight history. It’s kind of this new journalism / gonzo history where Katz not only writes of Butler’s life, but he traces the footsteps of Butler’s life from his home in Philadelphia to his grave outside Philadelphia. For the most part this works in giving context to the life and events of his subject, but in a couple of places it kind of made me lose the narrative. The other thing is that I’d like to see more about Butler’s later life. He’s more well known now for his antiwar stances after he retired, and his exposure of the “Business Plot” where people were trying to overthrow FDR. I don’t feel like we really see the development to that point – though there are nods towards it as Katz traces the earlier career, my guess is that there wasn’t the material in the archives to fully document Butler’s arc. Definitely worth a read.
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