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Imperialism and militarism build empires, not liberalism. So says Christopher Coyne, Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute and professor of economics at George Mason University, in this eye-opening, must-read book on America’s recent foreign policy failures.

The attempt by the United States since 9/11 to establish liberal political regimes in the Middle East and in the mountains of Afghanistan was doomed to fail. And the logic is simple: illiberal means can lead only to illiberal ends.

What else are the hundreds of thousands of dead and mutilated civilians the US military left behind, from 2003 to 2021, in these regions? The destroyed ancient cultures and nearly obliterated nation-states? Coyne also points out that the illiberal perpetrators also can end up, not only nearly bankrupt and humiliated, but also profoundly less secure. If we do not absorb these hard truths, says Coyne, the rest of the twenty-first century will be a repeat of its bloodstained, unstable beginning.

But Coyne is no isolationist. A vocal champion of global engagement, Coyne insists there are workable, proven alternatives to imperialism, militarism, and empire—ones, deeply rooted in human experience, that preserve freedom, promote security, and foster mutually enriching friendship among the nations of the earth. Read In Search of Monsters to Destroy, and you’ll never look at the nation state or international relations the same again.