Daydream Believers

America's power is in decline, its foreign policy adrift, its allies alienated, its soldiers trapped in a war that even generals regard as unwinnable. What has happened these past eight years is well known. Why it happened continues to puzzle. In Daydream Believers, celebrated Slate columnist Fred Kaplan combines in-depth reporting and razor-sharp analysis to explain just how George W. Bush and his aides got so far off track-and why much of the nation followed. Kaplan demonstrates that their disasters stemmed not from mere incompetence but from two grave misconceptions. First, they believed that the world changed after 9/11, when it didn't. The nature of power, warfare, and politics among nations remained the same, no matter how deeply they wanted to break free from the real world's constraints. Second, they thought that America emerged from its Cold War victory stronger than before, when in fact it was weaker. The disappearance of the Soviet Union brought freedom to much of the globe. But by the same token, the shattering of their common enemy gave many of America's allies leave to go their own way and pursue their own interests, without regard for what Washington desired.

For eight years, Kaplan reminds us, the White House-and many of the nation's podiums and opinion pages-rang out with appealing but deluded claims: that we live in a time like no other and that, therefore, the lessons of history no longer apply; that new technology has transformed warfare; that the world's peoples will be set free, if only America topples their dictators; and that those who dispute such promises do so for partisan reasons. They thought they were visionaries, but they only had visions. And they believed in their daydreams.

Kaplan traces the genesis and evolution of these ideas-from the era of Nixon through Reagan to the present day-and reveals how they have been either twisted through the years or rebutted as illusions at every step.

Packed with stunning anecdotes, hidden history, and a level of insight only Fred Kaplan can bring to issues of national security, Daydream Believers tells a story whose understanding is central to getting America back on track and to finding leaders who can improve the world, and America's position in it, by seeing the world as it really is.