In his famous farewell address in 1961, President Eisenhower urgently warned Americans to guard against the ""disastrous rise of misplaced power"" in the leviathan he dubbed the military-industrial complex. As Eugene Jarecki powerfully portrays in this piercing and necessary book, Eisenhower's worst fears have been realized. The complex has grown so large and powerful, with tendrils reaching so wide and deep into our political system, economy, and culture, that it is dramatically undermining our democracy, fueling an excessive militarism and an imperialist impulse that has propelled the United States into a series of horribly misguided military actions---culminating in the Iraq debacle. Based on extensive interviews with a who's who of high-level insiders from the Beltway, the Pentagon, and the defense sector, as well as in-depth historical research, Jarecki traces the troubling story of the evolution of the complex and how it so forcefully exerts its corrupting influence. Vital listening at this crucial juncture as the nation grapples with the profound challenge of Iraq, Jarecki's penetrating examination is sure to generate wide acclaim and lively debate. From the acclaimed creator of the award-winning documentary Why We Fight comes a deeply thought-provoking and revelatory examination of the deepest roots of American war-making and its troubling implications for the fate of American democracy. Eugene Jarecki is an award-winning dramatic and documentary filmmaker based in New York. His works include Why We Fight, which won the 2005 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival; The Trials of Henry Kissinger, which won the 2002 Amnesty International Award and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award; Quest of the Carib Canoe; and Season of the Lifterbees, which won the Time Warner Grand Prize at the Aspen Film Festival. He attended Princeton University and New York University, then worked for some years directing stage plays before turning to film. In addition to his work in film, Jarecki is also the founder and executive director of the Eisenhower Project, an academic public policy group dedicated to studying the forces that shape American foreign policy. He is also a visiting fellow at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies.