• Drift

  • The Unmooring of American Military Power
  • By: Rachel Maddow
  • Narrated by: Rachel Maddow
  • Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (3,073 ratings)

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Drift  By  cover art

Drift

By: Rachel Maddow
Narrated by: Rachel Maddow
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Publisher's summary

The #1 New York Times bestseller that charts America’s dangerous drift into a state of perpetual war. "One of my favorite ideas is, never to keep an unnecessary soldier," Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1792. Neither Jefferson nor the other Found­ers could ever have envisioned the modern national security state, with its tens of thousands of "privateers"; its bloated Department of Homeland Security; its rust­ing nuclear weapons, ill-maintained and difficult to dismantle; and its strange fascination with an unproven counterinsurgency doctrine.

Written with bracing wit and intelligence, Rachel Maddow's Drift argues that we've drifted away from America's original ideals and become a nation weirdly at peace with perpetual war, with all the financial and human costs that entails. To understand how we've arrived at such a dangerous place, Maddow takes us from the Vietnam War to today's war in Afghanistan, along the way exploring the disturbing rise of executive authority, the gradual outsourcing of our war-making capabilities to private companies, the plummeting percentage of American families whose children fight our constant wars for us, and even the changing fortunes of G.I. Joe. She offers up a fresh, unsparing appraisal of Reagan's radical presidency. Ultimately, she shows us just how much we stand to lose by allowing the priorities of the national security state to overpower our political discourse.

Sensible yet provocative, dead serious yet seri­ously funny, Drift will reinvigorate a "loud and jangly" political debate about how, when, and where to apply America's strength and power--and who gets to make those decisions.

©2012 Rachel Maddow (P)2012 Random House

Critic reviews

"Thank Ms. Maddow for picking this and every other fight that Drift provokes. It will be a smarter public debate than the kinds we're used to." (Janet Maslin, New York Times)

"Maddow’s distinctive voice in Drift is highly intelligent, often incredulous and intermittently and humorously profane...Her thesis, which is passionately and effectively articulated, remind[s] us of how far we have drifted from linking the sacrifices of our armed forces around the world to the citizens at home they so selflessly serve… Maddow…[has] provided readers with a timely and perhaps necessary provocation to examine the far-reaching consequences of the American way of war." (Gordon M. Goldstein, Washington Post)

"Crosses partisan lines and deals with issues that deserve a healthy debate...A compelling, intelligent read filled with Maddow's trademark wit." (Mary Houlihan, Chicago Sun-Times)

What listeners say about Drift

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What a 360 story!

I love her flow of expression. R.M is certainly the only person that would be most succinct/effective for the Audible performance of her own writings! She is brilliant.

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Overall a good listen; Questionable at times.

Maddow's consistent attempts to portray average members of the services as at best misguided youth caught in a web of lies or at worst Tweedledee and Tweedledum bumbling through the day, gets very tiresome and distracts from her overall message. She makes some good points at times, but she often reaches very far for some of those "obvious" solutions to the complex problems using imperfect information and no real on-the-job or technical experience in most of these subjects. Otherwise it was a good listen.

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US Military

An excellent book which gives u insight on how US military and CIA has been operating over the years without any political oversight. US military n CIA have assumed the status of a state within a state.... directing Foreign policy and consuming unimaginable chunks of budget, thriving on the fear of National Security and safety. US over years has lost sight of the morality of going to wars...

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Clear thinking historian

Maddow is brilliant and her recanting of history and forward thinking pragmatism is weaves into an artful (and at times horrifying) illumination of what’s wrong with the US war machine-and perhaps, what’s wrong with Americans who have turned this giant and costly machine over to those who stand to profit most-and suffer the least toll on their lives. The brave American soldiers and by proxy, the citizens of this nation sacrifice the most in terms of lives lost and financial devastation to keep the mentality of perpetual war alive and thriving. Riveting piece of journalism

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Excellent

Amazed at how time flew bye while listening to this book. It is very well presented. Unfortunately it is also very disturbing to have the shortcomings of Congress highlighted in this very stark light.
I was aware of some of the drift in our military and our lack of oversight however this is a great "what not to do in a democracy" letting the unusual become common.

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Inertia and Apathy

Scary stuff has been growing in our military and government since the end of World War II.

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Truly frightening our military is a corporation

just imagine the military the most powerful military in the world owned and gontrolled by private corporations

a reality

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a must experience

I learned so much & Rachel's narration was a treat. I highly recommend experience this for yourself.

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top notch

Rachel Maddow possesses the rare ability to take cumbersome, challenging concepts - that seem uninteresting on their face - and make them not just understandable but engaging. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

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Non-Academic but good story

Great story, but written in a way that is sounds very nonacademic. Sometimes it sounds just like someone ranting at old presidents rather than providing a critique of the Military's drift.

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