Drift
by Rachel Maddow
- Percentage of approved critics who have given this book a positive review.
Critic Rating
37%
Critic Reviews: 16
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- User rating from iDreamBooks & iTunes
Reader Rating
90%
Reader Ratings: 1478
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Synopsis
The #1 New York Times bestseller that charts America's dangerous drift into a state of perpetual war. "One of my favorite ideas is, never to keep an unnecessary soldier," Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1792. Neither Jefferson nor the other FoundÂers could ever have envisioned the modern national security state, with its tens of thousands of "privateers"; its bloated Department of Homeland Security; its rustÂing nuclear weapons, ill-maintained and difficult to... more
About Rachel Maddow
Published: March 27, 2012 by Random House
Genre: Political & Social Sciences, History, Current Affairs. Non-fiction. 288 pages
- All Critics: 16
- Positive: 6
- Negative: 10
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San Francisco Chronicle | 22 Apr 2012
While Maddow critiques the increased use of contractors, her analysis gives the war profiteers too little credit for this metastasizing mess.
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The New York Times | 13 Apr 2012
Her narrative is so beguiling that a reader may overlook its weaknesses.
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The New York Times | 28 Mar 2012
Her book does exactly that, in a crisp, sometimes too-smart-alecky style.
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Kirkus Reviews | 1 Mar 2012
In her hard-hitting debut, popular MSNBC host Maddow examines how the country has lost control of its national-security policy.
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Kirkus Reviews | 26 Mar 2012
A stalwart critic of things as they are, Maddow does us all a service by reminding us of the true costs of American war making.
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AV Club | 9 Apr 2012
The real problem with Drift is that it spends its 252 pages drifting through too many topics.
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Slate | 31 Mar 2012
Maybe Maddow didn’t feel she could write an Obama chapter in the middle of his first term, but she lets him off in a way that could read as partisan.
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PopMatters | 17 Apr 2012
By ignoring much of the growth of the military establishment in the ‘50s and ‘60s, she makes the current state of affairs appear to be the work of a few misguided presidents, not the logical end result of decades’ worth of societal militarization.
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My FDL (Fire Dog Lake) | 3 Apr 2012
But much is missing from the book. And some of what is there is misleading.
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Waging NonViolence | 13 Apr 2012
And this is where it gets a little tricky, because Maddow is at pains to say that this is not anyone’s fault.
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The Nine Ways of Knowing | 26 Apr 2012
Maddow’s style translates well into book form.
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The American Prospect | 10 Apr 2012
It’s very well to document how various administrations detached the use of military force from established constitutional procedures, and how Congress grew more and more quiescent over time. . . but it isn’t, actually, sufficient.
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Los Angeles Times | 16 Apr 2012
And, far from being a left-wing screed, it presents a sharply argued commentary that many conservatives could buy into.
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After Ellen | 10 Apr 2012
Drift is densely packed with years of research and unapologetic political wonk but. . .Maddow tempers the academia with whimsical anecdotes and spit-taking humor.
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94.7The Wave
I especially liked the section on how the military has marketed itself.
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Publishers Weekly | 20 Feb 2012
Maddow’s incisive look at the follies of militarism needs a deeper understanding of why America has so often embraced it.
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