THE REAL PRICE OF WAR: How You Pay for the War on Terror

A scholar at Brown University offers this compact and cogent study of the costs of the war on terror and how to meet them more effectively. At the present time, the costs of the war, as stated by the administration, are being met through regressive taxes, budget cuts at all levels, inflation and deficit spending. The historical narrative of how these methods have worked (or not worked) in the past is integrated with this section of the book at a level suitable for the lay reader. The author emphasizes that a mood of national commitment and self-sacrifice was there to be drawn on in WWII and immediately after 9/11. But the Bush administration's desire to have both a tax cut and the war on terror has led to failure to rally the nation and underfunding areas like veterans' programs and foreign aid, giving a strong impression abroad of a lack of national will. Goldstein suggests that rescinding the last tax cuts is a good starting point for a national and even international rallying, one that will keep the war on terror from dragging on as long as the Thirty Years' War. In attempting to face facts as he sees them, Goldstein makes a fine example of a nonideologue at work. Agent, Fredrica S. Friedman. (Sept.)

Forecast: With the war's cost being made an issue by the Kerry campaign, look for Goldstein on the political talk shows; if he gets picked up by primetime, the book will sell accordingly.