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rifledoc1's review against another edition
4.0
Robert Kaplan rightly acknowledges the Unites States’ ongoing implicit imperial role in the world, and using that perspective, he does an outstanding job explaining how the U.S. maintains that role in the post 9-11 era. “Imperial Grunts” attempts to take a broad, holistic look at how the U.S. has fought the Global War on Terrorism, not just in Iraq and Afghanistan, but in the many other places where the U.S. military has, and in some cases is still operating today. I especially appreciated the background information Kaplan provides for each of the countries he writes about, to include how geography, culture, and historical events eventually brought about U.S. military intervention in each country, and how those same factors work to influence operations and mission accomplishment in those countries. Although I do not agree with Mr. Kaplan’s assessment of a continued heavy evangelical Christian influence on the average service member, he does a very good job portraying the essence of the U.S. military of today. The book is very Army Special Forces and Marine Corps centric. That is not a bad thing, but it left me hoping for a sequel that also covers the Navy and Air Force and their contributions the Global War on Terrorism and the maintenance of modern national interests and global leadership. (Audiobook read)
cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition
4.0
Recommended by Rob. Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Simperial%20grunts__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold
sleepyboi2988's review against another edition
4.0
Neat look into the American Empire. Interesting for me to learn about the various places we have 'Boots on the Ground' that Id never knew about, Mongolia, Africa, etc. The author makes a fairly convincing argument for that fact that we are a global empire by simply visiting these various countries and embedding with the troops we have there making sure Washington's will and policies are spread and adhered to. We definitely have our fingers in many pies around the world. Overall a good travelogue by Robert, not quite on par with his Balkan Ghosts though.
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