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American Exception: Empire and the Deep State
American Exception seeks to explain the breakdown of US democracy, in particular to understand the uncanny continuity of American foreign policy, the breakdown of the rule of law, and the extreme concentration of wealth and power into an overworld of the corporate rich.
To trace the evolution of the American state, Aaron Good takes a deep-politics approach. The term deep state was badly misappropriated during the Trump era. In the simplest sense, it here refers to all those institutions that collectively exercise undemocratic power over state and society. To trace how we arrived at this point, American Exception explores various deep state institutions and history-making interventions.
Key institutions involve the relationships between the overworld of the corporate rich, the underworld of organized crime, and the national security actors that mediate between them. History-making interventions include the toppling of foreign governments, the launching of aggressive wars, and the political assassinations of the 1960s.
In its long history before World War II, the United States had a deep political system, a system of governance in which decision-making and enforcement were carried out within--and outside of--public institutions. It was a system that always included some degree of secretive collusion and law-breaking. After World War II, US elites decided to pursue global dominance over the international capitalist system.
Setting aside the liberal rhetoric, this project was pursued in a manner that was by and large imperialistic rather than progressive. To administer this covert empire, US elites created a massive national security state characterized by unprecedented levels of secrecy and lawlessness. The Global Communist Conspiracy provided a pretext for exceptionism--an endless exception to the rule of law. What gradually emerged after World War II was a tripartite state system of governance. The open democratic state and the authoritarian security state were both increasingly dominated by an American deep state.
Aaron Good concludes by assessing the prospects for a revival of US democracy.
To trace the evolution of the American state, Aaron Good takes a deep-politics approach. The term deep state was badly misappropriated during the Trump era. In the simplest sense, it here refers to all those institutions that collectively exercise undemocratic power over state and society. To trace how we arrived at this point, American Exception explores various deep state institutions and history-making interventions.
Key institutions involve the relationships between the overworld of the corporate rich, the underworld of organized crime, and the national security actors that mediate between them. History-making interventions include the toppling of foreign governments, the launching of aggressive wars, and the political assassinations of the 1960s.
In its long history before World War II, the United States had a deep political system, a system of governance in which decision-making and enforcement were carried out within--and outside of--public institutions. It was a system that always included some degree of secretive collusion and law-breaking. After World War II, US elites decided to pursue global dominance over the international capitalist system.
Setting aside the liberal rhetoric, this project was pursued in a manner that was by and large imperialistic rather than progressive. To administer this covert empire, US elites created a massive national security state characterized by unprecedented levels of secrecy and lawlessness. The Global Communist Conspiracy provided a pretext for exceptionism--an endless exception to the rule of law. What gradually emerged after World War II was a tripartite state system of governance. The open democratic state and the authoritarian security state were both increasingly dominated by an American deep state.
Aaron Good concludes by assessing the prospects for a revival of US democracy.
312 pages, Hardcover
Published February 8, 2022
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2299 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
April 4, 2024
This book was an absolute paradigm-shifter in the best way. The framework of a tripartite state — public state, security state, and deep state — provided me a much-needed framework to analyze power struggles both within the state (from JFK’s assassination to Watergate to the Trump impeachment) and between state and non-state actors. While the theory is a bit dry at times, I consider this essential information for organizers seeking to identify nodes of power in order to engage in contradiction that actually targets sources of power, instead of shadowboxing with symbolic figures.
October 15, 2022
Rather a punishing read. What use is writing and publishing a master’s thesis about deep structural power when your published thesis contains THIS MANY typographical errors? Did truly no one care to correct the simple grammatical mistakes, the misspellings, or even the careless usage of the wrong person’s name here and there - not even just once, but over and over again? What good is academic peer review or editorial oversight if a book makes it to print with something like 30 typos as this one has? Very half assed attempt to do something here. Quite disappointed in this effort.
July 13, 2022
Good has produced a masterful dissertation elucidating the inherently anti-democratic forces seeking to maintain US dollar hegemony above all else. Through revelatory political science theory coupled with a narrative survey of the past century’s deep events, he makes a compelling case for the otherwise inexplicable continuity of American foreign policy. I’ll be thinking about this for a while…
April 28, 2024
I really wanted to like this book but I simply can’t. I listened to Aaron’s podcast somewhat frequently in the last two years and found the content fascinating but I can’t do it anymore. Good is not really interesting in synthesizing everyone else’s ideas. Just read PDS or anyone else mentioned in this book. I couldn’t stop thinking about Good and his awful twitter account while I was listening to this book. How do you form an opinion this critical of US policy and then back RFK JR. Embarrassing.
August 5, 2022
The first 5 chapters are so complex that the flow of the book is almost completely inconsistent. It’s great to set up the fast paced hits in the second half of the book, but a little less theory or slowed down to the sake of an audience not in “the know” could’ve made this book much more capable of a wide readership. The concluding chapter is fascinating and really leaves so much to be desired.
November 27, 2022
Massively paradigm-reinforcing history of the wealthy few using the cloak of the exceptional, good-guy-hegemon saviour state persona to colonise the world.
I wish it were better-written, but Good’s hypothesis explains better than anything yet why State and the CIA have been so fond of massacre as a policy towards Socialists from the very beginning. Thought was, and indeed remains, the greatest threat to the American oligarchs.
I wish it were better-written, but Good’s hypothesis explains better than anything yet why State and the CIA have been so fond of massacre as a policy towards Socialists from the very beginning. Thought was, and indeed remains, the greatest threat to the American oligarchs.
April 3, 2023
An expansion of Good's dissertation, and it reads like an academic dissertation. Even as a reader experienced in academia it was a slog. Full of interesting information, but it could have used an edit to streamline it for a wider audience.
September 21, 2022
Important reading for understanding American history
January 27, 2023
Eye opening! This is a must read/listen to. Audio book does a fantastic job.
August 25, 2024
Throughout Aaron Good’s book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State, Good argues that America is a very undemocratic place, run by power-hungry unelected leaders. In doing so, Good uses expressions likely new to the reader, such as “exceptionist deep state,” the “overworld,” the “tripartite state,” and more. Trying to understand Good’s argument takes defining a few of these terms.
In the book, Good provides multiple definitions of “deep state.” The deep state derives its power outside of the Constitution. The deep state is “an obscured, dominant, supranational source of antidemocratic power.” It includes parts of government, as well as top-level finance and industry, and is more powerful than the elected, recognized public state. Good claims that deep state leaders are the true governors of America.
Good goes further, writing that America is actually an “exceptionist deep state.” Exceptionism, as used in the book, is defined as “the institutionalized suspension of legal restraints” and “abrogation of the rule of law.” Good writes that America exists in a “permanent state of exception,” where our “national security state” works outside the law towards subverting “US democracy and reproducing US predominance and imperial hegemony over the global capitalist system.”
Good explains that the most powerful members of the deep state make up the “overworld” of corporate wealth. The “overworld of corporate wealth has created and altered institutions to most effectively manage international and domestic politics to the effect that empire and hegemony – and thus exceptionism – are sacrosanct imperatives.” So, what has the overworld done? Per Good, they created the CIA, forced the US into World War II so that they could make money on weaponry, and were behind America’s use of atomic weapons on Japan. The overworld invented the Soviet Union as America’s enemy. They pushed America into war in Korea. They structured the Watergate break-in to purposely fail, to bring President Nixon down. They regularly deal in illegal drugs to raise funds for operations, work with the underworld, and use sexual blackmail for political purposes. And, of course, they are behind multiple murders and assassinations.
Good asserts that since the 1940s, deep state members included presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Ford, Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump. The only exception was John Kennedy, who, per Good, was killed by the deep state operatives for trying to limit the deep state and get the US out of Vietnam. Good dedicates many pages to JFK’s assassination, which is likely why movie Director Oliver Stone, who directed the 1991 movie about JFK’s assassination, gives Good a glowing front cover review. The deep state pushed Jimmy Carter to presidential victory in 1976, “only to destroy his administration” in favor of Reagan in 1980. Good writes that with Reagan’s election, the “public state” was completely vanquished, and has not returned. Good lists many other members of the deep state, some of which were a bit surprising, such as the liberal Ford Foundation and the Washington Post.
Good further defines America as an “exceptionist tripartite state” comprised of three elements – the public (democratic) state, the security state and the deep state. Good writes extensively about our “authoritarian security state.” Good explains that our security state was “created by elites with deep connections to the overworld of private wealth,” and includes the Pentagon, CIA, and FBI, all of which conduct illegal activities “several hundred times every day.” That’s where Good gets the title of his book, American Exception. It’s that our ruler state is exempted from the rule of law. Per Good, illegal actions of our security state include not only the assassination of JFK, but also of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. They faked the Gulf of Tonkin incident that formally launched the Vietnam war. They regularly interfere in political campaigns. They were behind the September 11th attacks, as well as the stolen presidential elections of 2000 and 2004. Per Good, it goes on. And on…
Good writes that this illegal governing structure’s main goal is American pursuit of hegemony/dominance over the world, and to achieve this, we must constantly break the rule of law, both domestic and international. As a result, we have seen “democratic decay,” including a rise in inequality, and the decline of American nationalism, which Good defines as “the pursuit of policies which strengthen and enrich the country’s collective economy and population.”
So, what advice does Good provide to fix this mess? Honestly, not much. He closes with some obvious stuff, such as invest in education! Pursue cleaner energy! Stop nuclear proliferation! Address income inequality! Reform the US electoral process! Reform drug laws! Reform state secrecy! And even, wait for it, follow China’s lead on economics! Hmmm… How does that work?
Good has a PhD in Political Science, and writes that his book “is an attempt to distill what my dissertation sought to address.” That’s what America Exception reads like: a way-too-long school report written by a student trying to impress his professors with seemingly endless, hard-to-read details. Simply put, American Exception is poorly written and edited.
I can sum up Good’s book in my own words as basically stating “America is run by a bunch of rich selfish dudes seeking even greater wealth and power, and they’re willing to trample on the rest of us to get it.” Well, duh. One could more effectively make this argument by avoiding harping on dozens of poorly explained conspiracy theories. I see American Exception actually as a dangerous book, in that it’s so hard to read, that it’s likely to turn readers against the basic reasonable argument Good is trying to make, that American democracy is decaying. Finally, making the argument that Democrats are every bit as bad as Republicans got us George W Bush (and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars) and Donald Trump. Claiming our system, and pretty much every one of our leaders, are corrupt, and raging against them, without providing a workable alternative plan, just works to kill citizens’ willingness to fight for a better world. I suggest you skip this book in favor of other works exploring the decline of American democracy.
In the book, Good provides multiple definitions of “deep state.” The deep state derives its power outside of the Constitution. The deep state is “an obscured, dominant, supranational source of antidemocratic power.” It includes parts of government, as well as top-level finance and industry, and is more powerful than the elected, recognized public state. Good claims that deep state leaders are the true governors of America.
Good goes further, writing that America is actually an “exceptionist deep state.” Exceptionism, as used in the book, is defined as “the institutionalized suspension of legal restraints” and “abrogation of the rule of law.” Good writes that America exists in a “permanent state of exception,” where our “national security state” works outside the law towards subverting “US democracy and reproducing US predominance and imperial hegemony over the global capitalist system.”
Good explains that the most powerful members of the deep state make up the “overworld” of corporate wealth. The “overworld of corporate wealth has created and altered institutions to most effectively manage international and domestic politics to the effect that empire and hegemony – and thus exceptionism – are sacrosanct imperatives.” So, what has the overworld done? Per Good, they created the CIA, forced the US into World War II so that they could make money on weaponry, and were behind America’s use of atomic weapons on Japan. The overworld invented the Soviet Union as America’s enemy. They pushed America into war in Korea. They structured the Watergate break-in to purposely fail, to bring President Nixon down. They regularly deal in illegal drugs to raise funds for operations, work with the underworld, and use sexual blackmail for political purposes. And, of course, they are behind multiple murders and assassinations.
Good asserts that since the 1940s, deep state members included presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Ford, Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump. The only exception was John Kennedy, who, per Good, was killed by the deep state operatives for trying to limit the deep state and get the US out of Vietnam. Good dedicates many pages to JFK’s assassination, which is likely why movie Director Oliver Stone, who directed the 1991 movie about JFK’s assassination, gives Good a glowing front cover review. The deep state pushed Jimmy Carter to presidential victory in 1976, “only to destroy his administration” in favor of Reagan in 1980. Good writes that with Reagan’s election, the “public state” was completely vanquished, and has not returned. Good lists many other members of the deep state, some of which were a bit surprising, such as the liberal Ford Foundation and the Washington Post.
Good further defines America as an “exceptionist tripartite state” comprised of three elements – the public (democratic) state, the security state and the deep state. Good writes extensively about our “authoritarian security state.” Good explains that our security state was “created by elites with deep connections to the overworld of private wealth,” and includes the Pentagon, CIA, and FBI, all of which conduct illegal activities “several hundred times every day.” That’s where Good gets the title of his book, American Exception. It’s that our ruler state is exempted from the rule of law. Per Good, illegal actions of our security state include not only the assassination of JFK, but also of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. They faked the Gulf of Tonkin incident that formally launched the Vietnam war. They regularly interfere in political campaigns. They were behind the September 11th attacks, as well as the stolen presidential elections of 2000 and 2004. Per Good, it goes on. And on…
Good writes that this illegal governing structure’s main goal is American pursuit of hegemony/dominance over the world, and to achieve this, we must constantly break the rule of law, both domestic and international. As a result, we have seen “democratic decay,” including a rise in inequality, and the decline of American nationalism, which Good defines as “the pursuit of policies which strengthen and enrich the country’s collective economy and population.”
So, what advice does Good provide to fix this mess? Honestly, not much. He closes with some obvious stuff, such as invest in education! Pursue cleaner energy! Stop nuclear proliferation! Address income inequality! Reform the US electoral process! Reform drug laws! Reform state secrecy! And even, wait for it, follow China’s lead on economics! Hmmm… How does that work?
Good has a PhD in Political Science, and writes that his book “is an attempt to distill what my dissertation sought to address.” That’s what America Exception reads like: a way-too-long school report written by a student trying to impress his professors with seemingly endless, hard-to-read details. Simply put, American Exception is poorly written and edited.
I can sum up Good’s book in my own words as basically stating “America is run by a bunch of rich selfish dudes seeking even greater wealth and power, and they’re willing to trample on the rest of us to get it.” Well, duh. One could more effectively make this argument by avoiding harping on dozens of poorly explained conspiracy theories. I see American Exception actually as a dangerous book, in that it’s so hard to read, that it’s likely to turn readers against the basic reasonable argument Good is trying to make, that American democracy is decaying. Finally, making the argument that Democrats are every bit as bad as Republicans got us George W Bush (and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars) and Donald Trump. Claiming our system, and pretty much every one of our leaders, are corrupt, and raging against them, without providing a workable alternative plan, just works to kill citizens’ willingness to fight for a better world. I suggest you skip this book in favor of other works exploring the decline of American democracy.
July 28, 2022
the first 100 pages or so was full of heady political theory, but this made sense as it was adapted from a dissertation. but I'm glad I had that foundation to give me a lens to view Good's history through. his thorough and well-researched tripartite theory of american political life was very compelling. i did more than once raise an eyebrow at things i had previously thought of as "conspiracy theories," but Good makes a great case for the role of the deep state in state crimes.
January 31, 2025
Needs to be required reading to wake up the masses. Everything they label “conspiracy theory” is 9 times out a 10 probably true. This book teaches you more than anything that knowledge is power
May 29, 2023
I wanted to love this book a lot more than I did. The art rules and the subject matter is incredibly interesting and worthy of studying, but the book felt so deeply rooted in what it was criticizing that I found myself slightly annoyed. That paired with strange spelling and grammar mistakes that should’ve been caught in editing made for a difficult read for the wrong reasons, one that felt like it was holding my hand while trying to explain subjects that were nowhere near as radical as the book made seem. This book felt extremely targeted at the social democrat type, outlining genuine horrors with the depictions they required, but falling flat in general meaning, applying very little time to describing the necessary upheaval of the state in response to its violence in proportion to the amount of time it explains its violence. It is absolutely wonderful for its collection of sources on specific events, and I’ve checked the glossary for significantly more time than I spent reading the book as a result.
I could see this being very helpful to people interested in leftist policy who find themselves thoroughly stuck in the capitalist system and way of thought as a sort of guide out of that mindset, and for that this book gets a pass on a lot of its issues, but not enough for me to warrant anything higher than a 3/5.
I could see this being very helpful to people interested in leftist policy who find themselves thoroughly stuck in the capitalist system and way of thought as a sort of guide out of that mindset, and for that this book gets a pass on a lot of its issues, but not enough for me to warrant anything higher than a 3/5.
August 9, 2022
This is an absolute must read for anyone who hasn't already gone full nihilism with respect to US government and democracy. Aaron Good provides a fabulous high level look at the actual forces at play in how the United States is ruled, how they operate, where they come from, and the possibilities for the future. This is not a happy read, but is essential for all Americans. As Good quotes from the Zhuangzi, "The sage is the sharpest tool of empire; he is not a means of bringing light to the empire."
I will note, I wish the book had gone through another round of proofreading. There are a number of simple typographic/grammatical errors, but this should not detract in anyway from the invaluable content of this book.
I will note, I wish the book had gone through another round of proofreading. There are a number of simple typographic/grammatical errors, but this should not detract in anyway from the invaluable content of this book.
October 12, 2022
While Aaron Good is one of my favorite guests on TrueAnon and his ideas are truly persuasive, this book is clearly his academic dissertation.
(Along side some typos, like "Price" instead of "Prince" and phrase reduplications) the first third of the book is extremely dense and lacks an accessible flow. Again, his theory is persuasive but even the more intriguing chapters are presented in a manner that induces whiplash-- paragraphs ebb between BCCI to the Yakuza, from an aside about Iran-Contra to the P2 masonic lodge. I do not think Good intends to tailor his book to the lay-audience but chapters require the reader to have a depth of knowledge and be able to track, effectively, multiple American presidential administrations and characters within, back and forth, chapter-to-chapter.
(Along side some typos, like "Price" instead of "Prince" and phrase reduplications) the first third of the book is extremely dense and lacks an accessible flow. Again, his theory is persuasive but even the more intriguing chapters are presented in a manner that induces whiplash-- paragraphs ebb between BCCI to the Yakuza, from an aside about Iran-Contra to the P2 masonic lodge. I do not think Good intends to tailor his book to the lay-audience but chapters require the reader to have a depth of knowledge and be able to track, effectively, multiple American presidential administrations and characters within, back and forth, chapter-to-chapter.
August 31, 2022
Astounding read. A comprehensive look at American politics through the parapolitical lens that takes on questions of conspiracy, legitimacy and integrity.
September 7, 2022
The first few chapters were dry and scholarly, but the rest of it was full of juicy tidbits.
February 15, 2023
Good read. I recommend Goods podcast appearances on Trueanon
September 19, 2023
i love it but im angry
July 25, 2024
Pretty good! I thought Good made a good choice (pardon the phrase) by expanding his Ph.D. thesis into a fully fledged book. That said, he needs to get a different publisher/editor because the typesetting mistakes were incredibly frustrating and entirely avoidable. Outside of the first 3 chapters, which provided a very useful introduction/overview to modern academic theories of the state in political science and international relations, there was not much presented here that was new to me. That's not something to really criticize though, because it was still an entertaining presentation. Not paradigm changing, but not horrible either- about as enjoyable a read as can be, when the topic of discussion is state crimes against humanity.
I <3 the CIA!!! I <3 the deep state!!!!
I <3 the CIA!!! I <3 the deep state!!!!
April 26, 2024
Content of the book is superb, but lacks sufficient analysis of certain events (JFK, Watergate, etc), preferring instead to cursorily outline SCADs. Prose is nice but repetitive (I have never read an author who loves the phrase "to wit" more than Mr. Good). I get this is an amended dissertation, hence the academic prologue, but it reads as loquacious and overly academic. This is necessary in a PhD paper when researching parapolitics as means of buttressing ones own credibility, but in book format does not translate. Deriding aside, Good relays PDS's fundamental arguments in a manner much more pithy and perspicuous than Scott ever did.
November 14, 2025
This book is a must read for anyone interested in what has happened and what is happening to America. Historical facts combined with PhD level theories combined to allow the reader a full understanding of what the "DEEP STATE" actually is, and how it impacts not only our government but out lives. I was 6 when JFK was killed and remember the funeral march with Little John saluting, little did I know how deep the deceptions would go. Through MLK, RFK, and Watergate I became more into understanding the news, but my naiveté would not be fully satisfied until I read American Exception. I will return often to this book for facts to help educated friends and family.
READ IT
NOW!
READ IT
NOW!
October 18, 2022
This book contains a succinct summary of the entire study of the unmetered power and anti-democratic crimes of the opaque elite institutions of the United States. While I was writing my thesis on U.S. foreign policy, I struggled to identify and articulate who was operating it, how, and why. Aaron Good has managed to distill exactly that. I'm very grateful for Aaron Good's descriptive analysis of the subject, and I will be quoting him frequently moving forward.
October 29, 2024
The first 30% of this book I would give 0 stars. Poorly edited, incredibly wordy, and unnecessarily condescending.
After that though it became much more entertaining and enlightening.
Honestly, you won’t miss much skipping the first 50-100 pages and if you aren’t familiar with the background you need you’d be better served reading a Wikipedia article or two and then diving in. They’d at least be better written and edited.
After that though it became much more entertaining and enlightening.
Honestly, you won’t miss much skipping the first 50-100 pages and if you aren’t familiar with the background you need you’d be better served reading a Wikipedia article or two and then diving in. They’d at least be better written and edited.
January 24, 2025
A thought-provoking read, and deeply timely… I struggled with the academic writing/social science theory at times and wish that the book had a little bit more “how do we move forward” than 2 pages at the end. Overall I don’t take everything at face value, but the literal whole point is we shouldn’t take everything at face value. And I agree with the overarching message about who is actually running this country (spoiler alert, it’s not the people).
Read
April 15, 2025Really great ledger of how and why American foreign policy doesn't change from administration to administration. Aaron Good joins the small contingent of scholars who are brave enough to admit that LHO was clearly a patsy.
September 25, 2025
shockingly good summary of some of my favorite things to read about, a little redundant at times and certainly a shocking amount of typos, but the fundamental analysis is strong and the information is too good to pass up <3
May 13, 2023
Feels like it has trouble not going off the rails even if it doesn’t want to
Read
June 29, 2023Fairly dense political theory but very worth reading, lots of great history in the second half. Must-read for anyone into JFK stuff
December 16, 2023
All of this information is available elsewhere in a better format.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews