House of War is a somewhat lengthy narrative of how the military operates in the post-WWII era. Many interesting facts, I'm sure, for military buffs, but it never really captured my interest.

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IN progress: Carroll begins by discussing how decisions were made with regard to daylight versus night-time bombing and the ethics (or lack thereof) in bombing civilians, i.e. bombing for effect on morale etc. I had no idea of the strong influences that inter-service rivalry had on strategic and often tactical decision-making. I guess I'm naive, but that was truly depressing.

Kennedy's laudable attempt to have some kind of arms control agreement with Russia over nuclear weapons was tempered by the necessity of "buying off" the hawks, both in the Pentagon and in Congress. The Pentagon was promised more military spending and virtually unlimited underground tests, and Congressmen were guaranteed governmental sponsorship of military spending in their districts. All this had the net effect of continuing an arms race that Eisenhower warned against and Kennedy didn't want.

This is an excellent, well argued book. The issues raised by the author deserve an official full response from American government officials, failing which it's citizens can only approach a state of complete despair and/or alienation. ( )