Clear and Present Danger (Jack Ryan Novels)

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At the end of the prologue to Clear and Present Danger, Clancy writes, "And so began something that had not quite begun and would not soon end, with many people in many places moving off in directions and on missions which they all mistakenly thought they understood. That was just as well. The future was too fearful for contemplation, and beyond the expected, illusory finish lines were things fated by the decisions made this morning--and, once decided, best unseen." In Clear and Present Danger nothing is as clear as it may seem.

The president, unsatisfied with the success of his "war on drugs," decides that he wants some immediate success. But after John Clark's covert strike team is deployed to Colombia for Operation Showboat, the drug lords strike back taking several civilian casualties. The chief executive's polls plummet. He orders Ritter to terminate their unofficial plan and leave no traces. Jack Ryan, who has just been named CIA deputy director of intelligence is enraged when he discovers that has been left out of the loop of Colombian operations. Several of America's most highly trained soldiers are stranded in an unfinished mission that, according to all records, never existed. Ryan decides to get the men out.

Ultimately, Clear and Present Danger is about good conscience, law, and politics, with Jack Ryan and CIA agent John Clark as its dual heroes. Ryan relentlessly pursues what he knows is right and legal, even if it means confronting the president of the United States. Clark is the perfect soldier, but a man who finally holds his men higher than the orders of any careless commander.

Along with the usual, stunning array of military hardware and the latest techno-gadgets, Clear and Present Danger further develops the relationships and characters that Clancy fans have grown to love. Admiral James Greer passes the CIA torch to his pupil, Ryan. Mr. Clark and Chavez meet for the first time. Other recurring characters like Robert Ritter and "the President" add continuity to Clancy's believable, alternate reality. This is Clancy at his best. --Patrick O'Kelley

Book Description

The controversial bestseller from Tom Clancy, the all-time master of the techno-thriller. CIA Deputy Director Jack Ryan joins the war on drugs. And when three American officials are assassinated in Colombia, the U.S. response is swift-and shocking.

Customer Reviews:

Could not stop reading.......2007-05-23

Being someone that is not really into reading books, this book totally took me away. I really felt like I was living the fight with the story. Great book, highly recomend it.

The best.......2006-12-05

This is the best Clancy book I've read. It doesnt have much of Jack ryan but it does have a bit more about the military than some of his other books. It also has Mr. Clark in some action in the end.

Am I getting old or tired of violence?.......2006-08-24

In my teenager years, I loved reading Tom Clancy's novel. `Red Storm Rising', `The Hunt for Red October', `The Cardinal of the Kremlin' are stories engraved in my adolescent mind. Spies, technology, drama, heroic actions, people being proud of serving their country--not something I could learn from my upbringing in Spain. Later on, when I needed a break in college, I used to keep reading Tom Clancy: `Executive Orders', `The Bear and the Dragon'. I just loved it.
So I thought that reading an old novel starred by one of my heroes, Jack Ryan, would be an excellent company for my week vacation in South Carolina. And it was. But I realized that, this time, I didn't enjoy it that much. Maybe it was the low value ascribed to human life, maybe it was the parallelism I could draw with the present situation in the US and my current distaste with the old adagio `the end justifies the means', maybe I am tired from war, violence and terrorism from everyday news.
Anyway, if your conscience is so hardened that you don't care about this anymore, go for it. You'll have fun.
By the way, South Carolina was great: friendly people, warm and sunny weather, tasty food, nice beaches, and lots of history.

Clear and Present Danger.......2006-05-31

Clear and Present danger is an action packed and informing novel by Tom Clancy. It places you into the United States government fight the war on drugs. The government is stepping up its assault on teh druggies after the director of the FBI is killed in Bogota. A young staff sergeant Domingo Chavez joins the fight as a scout in an elite group of soldiers fighting the druggies directly.
This book is excellent, both in its exciting storytelling and realistic twist. I would reccomend this book to anyone who enjoys very technical writing, or anyone who enjoys a good action story.

Best of Clancy's Books.......2005-12-16

I'd go as far to say this is better than The hunt for Red October. Compared to the dire offerings Clancy serves up now such as Red Rabbit, this book is good enough to make you wonder if it was not written by a different author.

The plotting is very tight, and action is nicely placed. At 600 odd words this is still a long book, but short for Clancy. The asassination of the American ambassador is as a couple of reviewers pointed out, not until about 300 pages in, but there is more than enough to keep your attention until then. Clancy's strong point was never characterisation, and some of his books I feel just sag with the weight of words (and extraordinarily long chapters). I remember reading other novels of his and skipping paragrapahs here and there. This one I didn't put down until I had finished it.

Politically, it's his most sophisticated as well. I always feel that sometimes Clancy was too comfortable painting a picture of the US as whiter than white - here, he brings in elements of moral ambiguity as an illegal war is started in Columbia.

There is still enough military hardware and action too keep you going as well - and not too much to overload you. Overall, I feel this is his best work, his most balanced and clever book. If he could produce something half as good as this, it would still be better than the tripe he has served up recently.

Carbon Monoxide: A Clear and Present Danger

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Carbon Monoxide

Carbon Monoxide: A Clear and Present Danger

Manufacturer: ESCO Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

Carbon Monoxide a Clear and Present Danger is the collaborative effort of several of the brightest in the field of carbon monoxide detection, combustion analysis, and remediation.

This book is intended to address carbon monoxide issues encountered by;

First Responders (Fire Department EMT personnel and other Paramedics)

Inspectors (local government and independent home inspectors)

Technicians (HVAC, Plumbers, and utility company workers)

Carbon Monoxide a Clear and Present Danger is divided into three distinctive sections:

Section 1—Carbon Monoxide (CO) Explains; what CO is, how CO is produced, health effects of CO exposure, how to respond an alarm, basic testing procedures, code compliance and exposure standards.

Section 2—Combustion: An in depth explanation combustion analysis, troubleshooting and remediation of CO production for both gas and oil fired appliances such as; boilers, furnaces, hot water heaters, clothes dryers, etc.

Section 3—Pressure Measurements: A primer on how building pressures effect the distribution of carbon monoxide.

Customer Reviews:

Carbon Monoxide.......2006-02-01

This book is an extremely comprehensive text written in a lay person's vocabulary. It has numerous examples and easy-to-understand graphs that enhance the subject matter. Overall, I believe it offers a "must have" reference to anyone who has an interest in the subject of Carbon Monoxide

Tom Clancy (Three #1 Bestsellers in One Collection: The Cardinal Of The Kremlin, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum Of All Fears)

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Abridged, but great for newbies
One of the Best Collections Out There Today!

Tom Clancy (Three #1 Bestsellers in One Collection: The Cardinal Of The Kremlin, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum Of All Fears)
Tom Clancy
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 0743506979

Book Description

CARDINAL OF THE KREMLIN

Mikhail Filitov is a war hero and Red Army Colonel, but his CIA code name is "Cardinal." The U.S. and U.S.S.R. are negotiating a treaty while their espionage armies are locked in the ultimate struggle. What the Cardinal knows could change the course of history. what a maverick CIA man named Ryan must do is out-duel the KGB -- and bring the Cardinal out alive!

CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER

The U.S. ambassador to Colombia has been murdered by druglords. Enemy covert agents filter into the jungles of Central America, which ready to explode. CIA man Jack Ryan is the eye of a storm -- and for the U.S., the stakes have never been higher.

THE SUM OF ALL FEARS

Peace may finally be at hand in the Middle East -- as Jack Ryan lays the groundwork for a plan that could end centuries of conflict. But ruthless terrorists have a final, desperate card to play; with one terrible act, distrust mounts, forces collide, and the floundering U.S. president seems unable to cope with the crisis.

Customer Reviews:

Abridged, but great for newbies.......2003-12-29

These three novels by Clancy were all excellent stories. If you are a true fan of Tom Clancy, do not let these take the place of reading the novels. However, I still enjoyed listening to the abridged version after reading his novels.

Those new to Tom Clancy should enjoy this series of stories, as all of them are intriguing. My introduction to Tom Clancy was through an audibook, and now I've read thousands of his printed pages. See for yourself.

One of the Best Collections Out There Today!.......2001-06-10

If your a Tom Clancy fan, This collection is for you. Included in this collection are The Sum Of All Fears, Clear And Present Danger, and The Cardinal Of The Cremlin. Believe me, this is one of the best collections of Clancy's works out there today! Definitely worth the money!

Three Complete Novels: Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of All Fears

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If you saw the movies this is your chance to read the books
3-of Clancy's best, BAR NONE, a truly worthwhile buy
Great Books, Great Value
Great
Outstanding

Three Complete Novels: Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of All Fears
Tom Clancy
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0399139354

Customer Reviews:

If you saw the movies this is your chance to read the books.......2004-08-01

There certainly seems to be neither rhyme nor reason to how they throw together Tom Clancy novels together in these collections. Here we have the 3rd, 5th and 6th of Clancy's novels, which are the 2nd, 4th and 5th of the Jack Ryan novels (except that while "Patriot Games" was written 2nd it actually takes place before the "1st" Jack Ryan novel, "The Hunt for Red October"--are you taking notes?). However, the two common denominators are that of the first six Clancy novels these three are the three better ones and that all three books have been turned into films.

"Patriot Games" explains why the English keep calling Ryan "Sir John" in "The Hunt for Red October." I always fancied that Clancy had written this novel first (or, at least had the idea for the story first), but that having Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth be characters in a fictional novel was frowned upon; however, I consider the relationship between the Ryans and the Royals to be one of the most compelling aspects of the novel. Certainly "Patriot Games" shows a great leap forward in Clancy's writing style. The novel literally begins with a bang as Ryan thwarts an attack by a I.R.A. splinter group. What happens afterwards brings him into the fold of the C.I.A. The ending of the novel, decidedly different from that of the film version, refutes the idea that Clancy is a reactionary conservative.

"Clear and Present Danger" presents a scenario that remains one of the most attractive as a real world solution to a continuing problem, namely the use of the U.S. military to put the Columbian drug cartels out of business. The problem, of course, is that the President decides to make this a covert mission, which provides ample opportunity for things to go too far. This is the novel that introduces Ding Chavez to John Clark, and Clark to Ryan for that matter. In terms of the characters in the Jack Ryan novels, "Clear and Present Danger" is the one that probably has the most resonance with the rest of the series. Much is made of the way Clancy incorporates cutting edge technology into his narratives, but his strength has always been his characters. There is no better example of this aspect than in the beginning of "Clear and Present Danger," when Clancy introduces us to the character of Red Wegener with such wonderful detail that we are surprised to discover he ends up being a minor character in the novel.

"The Sum of All Fears" is one of Clancy's novels where you certainly hope that he is not prescient. Middle Eastern terrorists get a hold of a nuclear weapon and decide to detonate it at the Super Bowl. However, this is not a simple act of terrorism but part of a larger game that seeks to have the United States and the Soviet Union skip over a return to the Cold War and go right for a nuclear exchange. Meanwhile, Jack Ryan is caught in the switches as a new president comes into office and his National Security Advisor wants our hero's head on a platter. When the bomb detonates events escelate beyond the speed of those on both sides to process the information and make decisions than hurtle the world towards oblivion.

As always, you are urged to read all of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels in order even though what we have here qualifies as the essence of the first part of the Jack Ryan saga. After this point, following an interlude with the first John Clark novel, we move from Jack Ryan the CIA years to Jack Ryan the White House years. Although his recent novels have seen like they were written by rote, these three novels will more than evidence why Clancy has a devote following who love to consume his massive tomes as soon as they come out in hardback.

3-of Clancy's best, BAR NONE, a truly worthwhile buy.......2001-04-11

For sentimental reasons only, I view 'Hunt For Red October' as Clancy's best book, but these 3 cannot be far behind, especially 'Clear & Present Danger' and 'The Sum Of All Fears'. Absolutely riviting novels that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Clancy truly has his finger squarely on the pulse of what is going on in the world -- or what COULD go on.

'Patriot Games' is a phenomenal story of revenge from an IRA Terrorist who's plot to assassinate Charles & Di is thwarted by Jack Ryan, who is completely unaware of the horrific consequences of his actions. GREAT read.

'Clear & Present Danger' is a VERY complicated story of the war on drugs and a few people in high places making some pretty rash decisions that creates a completely incredible situation and Clancy ties it all together in one of his all-time best stories. Highly recommended.

'The Sum Of All Fears' is another Clancy rocket-of-a-novel with many plots and sub-plots, all of which are tied neatly together in the end revolving around a few middle-eastern bad guys who get their dirty fingers on an actual Israeli atomic bomb, converting it into a thermo-nuclear device, and their plans of actually using it on American soil. A true Clancy masterpiece.

All three of these books are worth buying, but if you can manage to grab this particular book with ALL of them, do NOT hesitate, just DO IT! Any Clancy fan worth his/her salt cannot call their collection complete without this. Just hours and hours of absolute thrilling reading.

Great Books, Great Value.......2000-12-22

This product contains three of the most action packed novels by Tom Clancy: Patriot Games, a book about Irish terrorists bent on killing Jack Ryan, which is far superior to the movie; Clear and Present Danger, which is deeper than the movie, but slower moving, and The Sum of All Fears, which is destined to the theater, has a plot of peace in the Middle East and an excellent ending. Well worth the price.

Great.......2000-04-25

This book has three excellent titles in one. A must buy and a great price too.

Outstanding.......1999-03-11

Great. Clancy's three best books in one. Impossible to put down as you never know what is going to happen next.

The Four Freedoms under Siege: The Clear and Present Danger from Our National Security State

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The Four Freedoms under Siege: The Clear and Present Danger from Our National Security State
Marcus Raskin , and Robert Spero
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0275989119

Book Description

FDR's Four Freedoms--Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear--were presented to the American people in his 1941 State of the Union address, and they became the inspiration for a second bill of rights, extending the New Deal and guaranteeing work, housing, medical care, and education. Although the bill never was adopted in a legal sense in this country, its principles pervaded the political landscape for an entire generation, including the War on Poverty and the Great Society reforms of the 1960s. Furthermore, the ideas expressed in the Four Freedoms speech inspired the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But since the late 1970s and early 1980s, these freedoms have been under assault, from presidential administrations of both parties, economic pressures, and finally, the alleged requirements of national security. After 9/11, this process accelerated even more rapidly. The authors address the hard questions of individual freedom versus national security that are on the minds of Americans of all political stripes. They bring together the pivotal events, leaders, policies, and fateful decisions--often path-breaking, more often ending in folly--that have subverted our constitutional government from its founding. "You reach the inescapable conclusion," the authors write, "that the United States is a warrior nation, has been addicted to war from the start, and is able to sustain its warfare habit only by mugging American taxpayers, and believing in its mission as God's chosen."

Tom Clancy-9 Book Set (Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of all Fears, Patriot Games, Op-Center Mirror Image, Red Storm Rising, Raninbow Six, Net Force Night Moves, Op-Center Games of States, The Hunt for Red October)

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Tom Clancy-9 Book Set (Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of all Fears, Patriot Games, Op-Center Mirror Image, Red Storm Rising, Raninbow Six, Net Force Night Moves, Op-Center Games of States, The Hunt for Red October)
Tom Clancy
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000O0PZ8I

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Buyer Beware: Shoddy workmanship from Marvel
Good avengers continuity
Leaves something to be desired
Predictable Spandex Fare

Avengers: Clear & Present Dangers
Kurt Busiek , and George Perez
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0785107983

Book Description

The Avengers have stood as the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, banded together to fight the good fight. Their ranks have included the most powerful mortals and gods in the Marvel Universe and their exploits have been depicted by the very best writers and artists in the business.

In this volume, collected from the current run of the comic, the Avengers can't seem to catch a break as they face one threat after another. Even during something as uplifting as New York City's Avengers Day, the Grim Reaper comes calling. They face off against the danger of munitions despot Moses Magnum and the Avatars of Lord Templar.

All is not hopeless because these stories also show a return to their ranks of long-time members Wonder Man and the Vision, plus the arrival of Triathlon and Silverclaw. But Hawkeye quits the team and shortly finds himself opposing his former allies when they try to take down the Thunderbolts.

Customer Reviews:

Buyer Beware: Shoddy workmanship from Marvel.......2005-12-22

See other reviews for the stories here. My gripe is the poor materials used in these Marvel collected works. Like Thor:Across All Worlds (and every review there mentions this fault) the pages started falling out after the first read. Sub-standard glue and binding result in a book that just crumbles in your hands. Appalling quality control from the normally reliable Marvel. I've stopped buying any of these glossy page, black and white spine editions. Been burned twice now, that's plenty.

Good avengers continuity.......2005-05-17

I've owned the collection for several months now. The plot is good, it follows Avengers history for the most part. The art is superb and just grabs you. Although the best storyline in this collection I feel is the one with the GRIM REAPER, it is still such a treat when you see THE MIGHTY THOR in action against PAGAN.
HERE'S THE BREAKDOWN:

WRITING: 3 STARS
PENCILLING: 5 STARS
INKING: 4 STARS
BOOK BINDING: 3 STARS

All in all, I loved the AVENGERS roll call in this collection.

Leaves something to be desired.......2005-01-08

The highlight of this collection is the comeback of the Grim reaper, which was mostly handled well, while the guest star of the beast was an enjoyable story. However, overall, I must say that this collection isn't very impressive.

There is minimal character development, the villains are mostly inconsequential or annoying, the fights border on mundane, and the endings mostly predicatable. The most enigmatic of this collection is the Triune understanding, which you simply come out hating.

The Moses Magnum fights I thought were ridiculous, I hated them. The clashes between Pagan and Lord Templar got increasingly boring and repetitive, as they mostly ended as fistfights between the superstrengthed and the steroid pumped.

I'd avoid it unless you're on a hunt (like i was) to beef up your collection of Avengers past issues that you don't have. It doesn't add much to your collection.

Predictable Spandex Fare.......2004-04-19

Kurt Busiek gives another 'I Can Learn To Read' story of the Avengers. It's predictable, and gives a weird echo of previous Avengers runs (especially Perez's first run on the team about twenty years ago). It's simple superhero stories, and the overall collection suffers because of the clumsy juggling of the characters and stories. The Triune story comes out of nowhere, as if it were more a convenient argument for Busiek's clear reluctance at developing minority characters (a long-argument in the Avengers). The Grim Reaper story seems to be rehashed from a few other Grim Reaper stories.
The art is easily the best thing about the book. Perez cares a lot about the team and is able to bring an extraordinary amount of detail and beauty to each page. While his character designs are a bit lackluster (Triatholon and the Triune look particularly dated), he still is able to show newer characters like Firestar and Justice in as good a spotlight as old favorites Scarlet Witch and the Vision.
I would recommend the Avengers Visionary book reprinting Perez's first run.

No Clear and Present Danger: A Skeptical View of the U.S. Entry Into World War II

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Maybe Andrew Bacevich should have read this book
Accurate in the local sense, inaccurate in the global
Good revisionist account of pre-ww2 events

No Clear and Present Danger: A Skeptical View of the U.S. Entry Into World War II
Bruce M. Russett
Manufacturer: Westview Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0813331951

Book Description

There is, in a post-Cold War climate, a great need for an active, engaged U.S. foreign policy. Isolationism is not a viable solution. Yet given the limits of American power and wisdom, an engaged policy has to be conducted in a multilateral framework, informed by criticisms as well as agreement from other countries, and carried out with their active cooperation in multilateral institutions. Published at the height of the Vietnam War, No Clear and Present Danger argues that if the Vietnam War derived in substantial part from an overconfident and unilateral interpretation of history, that is a mistake from which we can still learn.

Customer Reviews:

Maybe Andrew Bacevich should have read this book.......2006-08-29

Yale University Political Scientist Bruce Russett's thesis can be summarised with the following quote from his book.

"American participation in World War II had very little effect on the essential structure of international politics thereafter, and probablt did little either to advance the material welfare of most Americans or to make the nation secure from foreign military threats (the presumed goals of advocates of a "realist" foreign policy). (By structure I mean the basic balance of forces in the world, regardless of which particular nations are powerful vis-a-vis the United States.) In fact, most Americans probably would have been no worse off, and probably a little better, if the United States had never become a belligerent. Russia replaced Germany as the great threat to European security, and Japan, despite it's territorial losses, is once more a great power."

It's natural when paradigms are failing for investigators to return to their origins and seek out the views of their critics. Ronald Radosh did this when he was a member of the New Left and America's then quagmire was in rice paddies not quick sand. Radosh interrogated the writings of five isolationist critics of America's path to WWII and the Cold War. Other investigators sift through the fine detail, revisit the archives and engage in revisionist history. With the new quagmire we are seeing this deju vu all over again.

But Russett eschews both those paths. He neither unburies forgotten prophets or trawls for lost telegrams, instead he turns the fine focus to blurr and looks for the big picture. In his final chapters we get a taste of his 'macroscopic" methodology. Russett's macroscope sees Japan as being pushed into war, not so much by any Rooseveltian chicanery or home grown militaristic mania, but by the disappearance of options making either withdrawl from China or negotiation with the Anglo-Americans impossible. The Pearl Harbor attack was in a sense a desperate gamble by a power with a GDP perhaps a tenth of America's. In Europe Russett saw a stalemate emerging as Hitler fails to defeat the RAF and the war with Stalin erupts.

Russett warns us that the usual portraits of Nazi evil are true but as the true depths of their depravity were not really appreciated until after WWII so these arguments are not available for retrospective justification. This is not a rule Russett applies consistently. He relies on much data gathered post WWII that shows that Axis war preparations and production capabilities were consistently exaggerated by Allied leaders.

Russett argues the hypothetical case for a middle path between isolationism and interventionism, essentially it's the path of 'limited war', a phrase that only became common in the cold war era. Russett correctly points out that in fact the division between "isolationists" and "interventionists" was more of a shifting and over-lapping spectrum, rival strategies rather than a Berlin Wall ideological split. Many "isolationists" urged America to be armed to the teeth and FDR's pre-Pearl Harbor strategy of "all aid short of war" had numerous "isolationist" supporters, not all of whom were pacifists or even neutralists. There were interventionists in FDR's administration, but it is, at least, possible that their number did not include FDR himself until virtually the dawn of Pearl Harbor. Russett believes a continuation of the "all aid short of war" strategy pioneered in Lend Lease, convoy protection etc would have been sufficient to keep Britain afloat as a viable western counter to any German european hegemony. Such an 'isolationist' strategy would also be 'realist', providing America with a potential base and ally as an insurance policy in the unlikely event that the new Nazi empire, would grow into a true global power with trans-Atlantic reach.

The actual "All aid short of war" phase of FDR's actual strategy was as Russett informs us itself really the first, if unheralded, chapter of American 'limited war'. Russett takes FDR to task, as do most of the revisionists, for the secrecy that cloaked this limited war. These were the first steps to the Imperial Presidency. Russett's defence of this limited war is of course somewhat ironic, considering his status as a critic of the Vietnam adventure.

Russett's book is in a sense the book Andrew Bacevich should read .Bacevich is a modern critic of "The New American Militarism" and America's latest quicksand quagmire. Bacevich's analysis has it's roots in the work of revisionist historian and liberal isolationist Charles Beard. Yet Bacevich has argued that modern opponents of the new militarism are wasting their breath by taking a revisionist line on WWII and questioning FDR. Maybe he was thinking too much about Beard, perhaps Russett's approach would give Bacevich the middle path he was after.

In any event this compact, well written volume of a mere 108 pages punches above it's weight. For my money the chapters dealing wit the Pacific War were excellent as was his overview of the European theatre pre-Pearl Harbour. The later chapters exploring his analytical methodology are interesting and provide a strong empirical case for focusing on national fundamentals (ie GDP, demography, cultural traditions) rather than the latest scare headlines from some corner of the globe, an approach that guarantees a constant chase of phantoms. These chapters are not as well written as the earlier ones which is a pity, as they suggest a realist alternative to nostrums of which the neocons are merely the latest peddlars.

Accurate in the local sense, inaccurate in the global.......2001-07-14

There are few more controversial premises for a book than the one that motivated the writing of this one. The author argues that the United States was under no severe threat from either Germany or Japan in the period of the late 1930's until the attack at Pearl Harbor. His first premise is that Germany had not been able to subdue Britain and was stalemated on the Soviet front in 1941, which would have eventually led to some form of negotiated truce. Germany then and in the near future would have possessed no capability to directly attack the United States. Japan was also bogged down in China and overextended in other areas, such as Southeast Asia. While an initial attack would be damaging, there was little chance that Japan could defeat the U.S. With these "facts" as a basis, Russett argues that Roosevelt's tactics of engaging in a naval shooting war with Germany in the Atlantic and embargoing goods essential to Japan, unnecessarily goaded them into a war that could have been avoided. He considers the goading unnecessary because neither nation presented any clear and present danger to the United States.
This is a case where the author is correct in the technical sense but wrong in the practical, and the degree to which he is correct is dependent on your definition of the phrase, `clear and present danger." It is true that neither nation had the capability to do significant material damage to the territory of the United States. However, the invasion and/or wholesale killing of a nation's citizens is not the only danger that can exist.
Russett has the benefit of hindsight in knowing a great deal about the resources that Germany possessed in the period where Roosevelt was inching the nation toward war. At that time, Germany was still a very real threat to invade and conquer the British Isles, an event far more serious than the fall of the rest of Europe. No one in America at that time knew that Germany simply could not launch an invasion. One point he used as justification was that it took the US and Britain many years to complete the build up so that the cross channel invasion could be launched. While true it also misses the point. When the allies carried out the D-Day invasion, it was against a well-equipped enemy with years to prepare set defenses. After Dunkirk, there were many soldiers in Britain but they had almost no equipment or set defenses. Had the Germans been able to establish a solid beachhead, there really was very little to stop them.
Russett also seems to ignore the long-term dangers. If Japan had been able to execute their real plan, which was to control the resources of Indochina and the Dutch West Indies, the long-term consequences to the U.S. would have been severe. Japan would have controlled a strategic set of resources that would have made them a superpower, and given their militaristic nature at that time, a continuing threat to expand. The fall of the Phillipines into that set would have also been inevitable as they simply could not have been defended.
The same neglect also applies to the threat of Germany. Even if you ignore the appalling nature of the regime, a Europe controlled by Germany from Gibralter to the Soviet border would have been the most powerful "nation" in the world. At the time of Roosevelt's moves no one understood the power of resistance movements and he could only see a powerful empire that would be expansionist and ideologically incompatible with the United States. One only has to look at how the Soviet Union ruthlessly exploited the nations of Eastern Europe after the war to understand how valuable an asset they were.
Finally, Russett argues that the global power of the United States was not significantly altered by participation in the war. Which is nonsense. Before the war, Britain was the only global superpower and after it ended, the United States filled that role. Granted, it thrust the U.S. into situations where military force was inappropriately applied, but that is different in that is the application of power rather than the existence.
The premise of this book is one that must be presented for the sake of historical completeness. While true if you suffer from a lack of extended thought, it simply does not hold up if you consider the situation as it appeared to Roosevelt in 1940 when he faced two mighty empires allied with each other.

Good revisionist account of pre-ww2 events.......1999-03-20

This is a very moderate book in regard to conjectures made by the author; Russett is not even an isolationist. He still points out very compelling reasons why US entry was forced by bad choices made by American leaders.

Average customer rating:

Clear and Present Danger
Tom Clancy
Manufacturer: Putnam Pub Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NP3T6E

Clear and present dangers: A conservative view of America's government

Average customer rating:

Clear and present dangers: A conservative view of America's government
M. Stanton Evans
Manufacturer: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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