Status Updates From El violento siglo americano

It’s a memoir to misguided American arrogance in war. It describes in detail the American pathological approach to conflict and what exactly it stems from. I like it a lot.

Too short to be particularly intensive, but incredible insight into the overarching military and rhetorical developments that accompanied technological innovation following WWII. There are so many puzzle pieces that build American identity, but there are also so many that build upon themselves, so much so that they seem fragile. Recycled rhetoric based on past exaggeration and hyperbole stand out in particular.

The incompetence behind the Cold War, veiled by American bravado and nationalism, never fails to make me feel like maybe I am capable of anything. We’re taught in school about a good vs. evil showdown that was decided by technological advancements and moral purity. We’re not taught about the psychological aspects—the fear, the confusion, the chaos in our governing ranks. My education seems shallow to me now.

I appreciate Dower’s brevity. Some could wax poetic on American global influence, and some do it well, but Dower’s intent here favors brevity. He carefully deconstructs our understanding of violence and how we quantify it to make us question the reality of an American Century. It’s something I think about often, deconstructing these ideas of national identity that become personal, given time and repetition.