by David Gordon
Mises.org
[Debating War: Why Arguments Opposing American Wars and Interventions Fail. By David J. Lorenzo. Routledge, 2016. viii + 233 pages.]
David Lorenzo, a professor of international affairs at the National Chengchi University in Taiwan, has undertaken an ambitious task. America has engaged in many wars throughout its history, and all of them have encountered opposition. Lorenzo in this excellent book endeavors to classify the principal types of argument that have been raised by those who challenged the path of war.
Readers will come away from Lorenzo’s extensive survey with an indelible impression. The same debates recur again and again. If, for example, we look at the debate over the War of 1812, it might be Ron Paul speaking about the invasion of Iraq in 2003: