A World of Enemies: America's Wars at Home and Abroad from Kennedy to Biden

Osamah F. Khalil

Apr 2024 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Rick Adamson

About this audiobook

Over the past half-century, Americans have watched their country extend its military power to what seemed the very ends of the earth. America's might is felt on nearly every continent-and even on its own streets. Decades ago, the Wars on Drugs and Terror broke down the walls separating law enforcement from military operations. A World of Enemies tells the story of how an America plagued by fears of waning power and influence embraced foreign and domestic forever wars. Osamah Khalil argues that the militarization of US domestic and foreign affairs was the product of America's failure in Vietnam. Unsettled by their inability to prevail in Southeast Asia, US leaders increasingly came to see a host of problems as immune to political solutions. Rather, crime, drugs, and terrorism were enemies spawned in "badlands"-whether the Middle East or stateside inner cities. Characterized as sites of endemic violence, badlands lay beyond the pale of civilization, their ostensibly racially and culturally alien inhabitants best handled by force. Its failures-in Iraq, Afghanistan, US cities, and increasingly rural and borderland America-have only served to reinforce fears of weakness. It is time, Khalil argues, for a new approach. Instead of managing never-ending conflicts, we need to reinvest in the tools of traditional politics and diplomacy.

About the author

Osamah F. Khalil is associate professor of history at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He is the author of America's Dream Palace, which was named a Best Book of 2017 by Foreign Affairs. His research on foreign policy, national security, and military affairs has been featured widely.

Rick Adamson is an Audie Award winner for his work on In a Heartbeat by Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy (with Sally Jenkins) of The Blind Side fame. Also the winner of several ALA awards and a Harper Audio Grammy nominee, Rick has been a narrator for twenty-five years. Originally from Maryland, he now lives in New Jersey.