The Icarus Syndrome

"Why do we succumb to hubris? Peter Beinart has written a highly intelligent and wonderfully readable book that answers the question by looking at a century of American foreign policy. As with everything Beinart writes, it is lucid, thoughtful and strikingly honest." — Fareed Zakaria, author of The Post-American World

"Peter Beinart has written a vivid, empathetic, and convincing history of the men and ideas that have shaped the ambitions of American foreign policy during the last century—a story in which human fallibility and idealism flow together. The story continues, of course, and so his book is not only timely; it is indispensible." — Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars

Peter Beinart, one of the nation's leading political writers, offers a provocative and strikingly original account of American hubris throughout history—and how we learn from the tragedies that result.