War and the American Presidency

In a book that brings a magisterial command of history to the most urgent of contemporary questions, this two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian explores the war in Iraq, the American presidency and the future of democracy. Schlesinger warns of the dangers posed by the fatal turn in U.S. policy from deterrence and containment to preventive war and writes powerfully about George W. Bush’s expansion of presidential power, reminding the reader of America’s legacy of patriotism through dissent in wartime. In a pertinent new chapter written especially for the paperback edition, he examines the historical role of religion in American politics as a background for an assessment of Bush’s faith-based presidency.