Highly recommended for aficionados of foreign-policy and national-security issues. Kirkus Reviews a lucid and insightful guide to the use of armed force as an instrument of U.S. power. American Conservative Betts combines serious thought, common sense, and deep historical knowledge, rather than simply applying abstract theories, and his conclusions are expressed in plain English
Lawrence D. Freedman Foreign Affairs ... Read moreThis volume is instructive for policy makers and would be engaging and provocative in the classroom... Recommeded. Choice American Force deserves to be widely read and debated.
Scott A. Silverstone H-Diplo Roundtable Richard Betts has written an extremely important book that is probably the best critique of the prevalent bipartisan thinking on post-Cold War foreign policy produced to date... [Betts] has already written four or five classics in the field, and this book adds another to that remarkable list.
Michael O'Hanlon Political Science Quarterly Betts provides a sobering and bluntly honest critique of US force. He does so through clear writing and argument.
David Ryan International Affairs American Force is a well-reasoned and thoughtful critique of the current U.S. national security environment, one that policymakers should not ignore.
Thomas Meagher H-War Richard K. Betts is an extraordinarily clear thinker and writer. Survival Show Less