SPRING BREAK READING LIST

One obvious choice and two less obvious ones. The first: Chris Hedges, War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning. Hedges's critique of the media construction of the war effort is pertinent right now. The others: Ira Strauber, Neglected Policies: Constitutional Law and Legal Commentary as Civic Education (Duke UP 2002), and Robert Tucker and David Hendrickson, The Imperial Temptation: The New World Order and America's Purpose (CFR 1992)

Strauber's book is an extended defense of what he calls "agnostic skepticism," which Strauber develops as as approach to teaching cases, an approach that he hopes will serve the broad purpose of encouraging habits of thought advantageous for the development of critical and thoughtful citizens.

Tucker and Hendrickson's book is an analysis of the implications of the first Gulf War on American approaches to the use of force abroad. As the title suggests, the authors view the first Gulf War as a dangerous precedent. Because much of what they say is quite prescient, I'll spend some time over the next week reporting on their argument and how GWII illustrates and challenges their arguments.