“Extremely timely and necessary… [Hartung’s and Freeman’s] diagnosis offers a map of the structural forces that continuously push America toward war. However, do not despair; the authors, as they should, propose a successful path forward.”–Common Dreams“Because the book is so well researched and easily readable, I presume many will be moved to want to do something, and Hartung and Freeman offer a foundation for action.”–John Tierney, former member of Congress and the current executive director of the Council for a Livable World​”A resounding denunciation of a military-industrial complex gone metastatic.“–Kirkus“A corrupt military-industrial complex peddles shoddy weapons that can’t win wars but still wreak havoc around the world, according to this coruscating exposé… It’s a damning indictment of the conflicts of interest running rampant in the defense establishment.”–Publishers Weekly“Hartung and Freeman show that the ecosystem of state-privileged, corporate militarists has become a beast. The result is a war machine that can’t protect us, a foreign policy that flirts with Armageddon, a broken domestic society, and a people who cannot see that the very fabric of our reality is a militarist matrix crafted by lies and sustained by our blood and our souls.”–Scott Horton, director of the Libertarian Institute“Hartung and Freeman tell a tragic story of how the military industrial complex successfully survived President Eisenhower’s dark warning and now shapes the military budget and our escalating rivalry with China. But even more ominous, Silicon Valley has joined the game with promises of AI miracles and lethal systems and gadgets galore. Sobering–and well worth reading.”–Jerry Brown, former governor of California“This is it: the definitive account of America’s wasteful, corrupt, and astonishingly ineffective military industrial complex. William Hartung and Ben Freeman have done their fellow citizens a great service. Taking their message to heart is a job for the rest of us.”–Andrew Bacevich, cofounder of the Quincy Institute and coeditor of Paths of Dissent: Soldiers Speak Out Against America’s Misguided Wars

William D. Hartung is a senior fellow at the Quincy Institute, focusing on the arms industry and military spending. He is the author of Prophets of War and resides in New York City.

Ben Freeman, director of democratizing foreign policy at the Quincy Institute, holds a PhD from Texas A&M. He focuses on investigating money in politics, military spending, and foreign influence. He lives in central Florida.