Used wisely, America's immense military power can preserve freedom but used unwisely, it can fracture global stability. Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke argue, that as long as neo-conservative radicals dominate the nation's national security process, fracture is more likely. Assuming Americans will see increasing threats in the future, this book is important because it identifies the factions and agendas involved. It advocates an alternative approach based on a return to the mainstream principles that have successfully guided American diplomacy for half a century. years.

George W. Bush's election and the confusion and fear that followed Sept. 11, 2001, combined to allow a small group of radical intellectuals to seize control of US national security policy. Foreign policy experts Halper (Cambridge U.) and Clarke (Cato Institute)--mainstream Republicans and former cold warriors--show how an inexperienced president was persuaded to abandon his campaign pledges and the bipartisan diplomacy that had managed the Soviet threat for half a century and adopt a neo-conservative foreign policy emphasizing military confrontation and "nation building." The costs, the authors argue, have been great and the benefits few. Their analysis lays out how incremental changes have created a huge shift in just a few years, and why the casualty is America's moral authority.
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"America Alone levels a broad indictment against the Bush administration, which in the name of the war on terror has launched the Iraq war, mounted an assault on personal liberties at home, engaged in a purposeful deceit of the media and the public (both of which suspended any critical judgment) and, above all, has inflicted terrible damage on U.S. moral authority and international legitimacy." The Washington Post

"An in-depth survey of the intellectual development of neoconservative thought over the last quarter century. Whether or not you agree with the book's conclusions, it is a must-read for anyone interested in the making of U.S. foreign policy in the 21st Century." The Honorable C. Boyden Gray, White House General Counsel to President George H.W. Bush, 1988-92

"[The authors] have done the near-impossible...they offer convincing, powerful, new insights on a crucial and widely-discussed development in America's relations with the world. The book is fair-minded...fascinating...full of valuable guidance for the next phase in U.S. foreign policy. Its analysis is the more trenchant for coming from two bona fide conservatives." James Fallows, National Correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly

"[A]n engrossing tale about the roots and impact of neo-conservatives on American policy...[M]ust reading." Chester A. Crocker, Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, 1981-89, and James R. Schlesinger Professor of Strategic Studies, Georgetown University

"This book dissects the American neo-conservatives and their ideology...You do not need to agree with the authors' every word to find this powerful critique of an important contemporary stream in American thinking enlightening and thought provoking." Dame Pauline Neville Jones, Former Political Director of the British Foreign Office, 1993-96

Examining the neo-conservative movement in the US, this study issues cautions against it.

America Alone looks at the neo-conservative rise in U.S. influence and how this in conservative policy has been detrimental to the safety and stability of the United States. It then sets out an alternative approach emphasizing the traditional conservative principles of containing risk, consensus diplomacy and balance of power.

America's immense military power is of concern to all. Used wisely, it can preserve freedom; used unwisely, it will fracture global stability. This book argue that so long as neo-conservative radicals dominate the nation's national security process fracture is more likely, resulting in Americans witnessing increasing threats. America Alone identifies clearly, and for the first time, who these people are and what their agenda is, setting out an alternative approach based on a return to the mainstream principles that have successfully guided American diplomacy for half a century.

This book examines the neo-conservative movement in the US and find cautions against it.

Examines the neo-conservative movement in the U.S. and discovers cautions against it.

Stefan Halper is a Fellow of Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, and a Senior Fellow of the Centre of International Studies, where he directs the Donner Atlantic Studies Programme. He holds a B.A. from Stanford and doctorates from Oxford and Cambridge Universities. He was a White House and State Department official during the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations. For twelve years he was executive editor and host of the weekly radio program This Week from Washington and then was executive editor and host of WorldWise, a weekly television program on foreign affairs. He has made contributions to numerous print media including the American Spectator, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Dallas Morning News, The International Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, National Interest, National Review, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Washington Times, and Weekly Standard. Dr Halper is senior editor at the Cambridge Review of International Affairs and a Contributing Editor at the American Spectator. He is the co-editor of Latin America: The Dynamics of Social Change.Jonathan Clarke is a Foreign Affairs Scholar at the CATO Institute in Washington, D.C. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from Oxford University and has also been a Counselor, British Diplomatic Service, with assignments in Germany, Zimbabwe and the United States. He is the author of After the Crusade: American Foreign Policy for the Post-Superpower Age and has made numerous contributions to various forms of print media, including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Los Angeles Times, National Interest, Orbis, and the Washington Post.

1. The neo-conservatives: a new political interest group; 2. Origins and early development; 3. The nineties: from near-death to resurrection; 4. The neo-conservative association; 5. The false history; 6. Outreach to the media and evangelicals; 7. Iraq: the false pretenses; 8. America: perception and counter perception; 9. The neo-conservative 'World War IV' and its impact on American society; 10. The balance sheet and looking ahead; Appendix.