Presidential Machismo: Executive Authority, Military Intervention, and Foreign Relations

This is a reprint of the text originally published in 2002, in which DeConde (history, U. of California, Santa Barbara) examines how the American presidency has come, over time, to have an unparalleled degree of power. He explores the tendency of American presidents to use military force unilaterally, and their reasons for doing so. He questions why a democratic nation such as the U.S. allows its presidents relative free reign in the exercise of this immense power in foreign relations. In this critical analysis, the author has "approached the foreign-policy and military behavior of presidents with what seemed to me a needed and overdue irreverence." Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)