Metacritic Books

America Alone
by Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke

ISBN: 0521838347
Cambridge University Press, 382 pages, $28.00 		Nonfiction Current Events & Politics
Released 06/21/2004

Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke argue that President George W. Bush president was persuaded to abandon his campaign pledges and the successful consensus-driven, bipartisan diplomacy that managed the lethal Soviet threat over the past half century, and adopt a neo-conservative foreign policy emphasizing military confrontation and ‘nation-building’. America Alone outlines the costs in terms of economic damage, distortion of priorities, rising anti-Americanism, encroachment on civil liberties, domestic political polarization and reduced security. [Cambridge University Press]

Overall Metascore

This is an average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

70 / 100

Critic Reviews

Outstanding The Globe And Mail [Toronto] David Braybrooke
It's a remarkable story.
Favorable Washington Post Stanley I. Kutler
Halper and Clarke are insiders who know the players and the sources. Their thoughtful, insightful work spans ideological and partisan differences, a rare phenomenon in these times.
Favorable Los Angeles Times Jim Sleeper
The authors are not only protective of presidents Nixon and Reagan but also seem hesitant to slam a sitting president who may yet take their advice. Were they journalists, they might tell us more about why George W. Bush didn't keep the neocons in check.
Favorable The Independent Godfrey Hodgson
America Alone pulls no punches. It argues forcefully, though in a temperate tone and with compelling documentation.
Unfavorable Wall Street Journal John Kyl
Downgrading the neoconservatives, however, isn't supportable on the basis of their book. It is full of oversimplifications, convenient shifts in argument and outright inaccuracies.

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