War Is a Racket

By: General Smedley Darlington Butler

Narrated by: William Dougan

War Is a Racket is Marine General Smedley Butler's classic treatise on why wars are conducted, who profits from them, and who pays the price. Few people are as qualified as General Butler to advance the argument encapsulated in his book's sensational title. When War Is a Racket was first published in 1935, Butler was the most decorated American soldier of his time. He had led several successful military operations in the Caribbean and in Central America, as well as in Europe during the First World War. Despite his success and his heroic status, however, Butler came away from these experiences with a deeply troubled view of both the purpose and the results of warfare.

©1935 General Smedley Darlington Butler (P)2018 Dauphin Publications

Brief yet poignant

A great quick book emphasizing that we have been filled with lies and deceptions which have drug us into all foreign wars that we as a nation have had little to no personal interest. We have traded prosperity and freedom for a facade of world peace sold to us by malicious actors.

This could have been written today.

A foremost expert on war exposes the military industrial complex when it was still in its infancy 90 years ago.

everyone should read or listen to this

this book will wake you up to the fact that people are now profiting from genocide in Palestinian land

A very important and impactful book

This book was written in 1935, and is still so relevant today. War is a Racket is a scathing 43 minutes (or 50 pages) book about the lies politicians tell American taxpayers to justify going to war. Smudley explains the corruption of war in very easy to follow language and finishes up by presenting three steps that need to be met before the war racket can be broken.

This was short and to the point, but so impactful with its contents, especially in our current world of constant wars. This goes over how wars are profitable for a country, especially its corporations who make 100% more during war time, but that money never is seen by its soldiers and their families. While I have never agreed with the USA going to war or any other country, learning about how corrupt it is further pushes me to lobby against it.

One thing that really made this so impactful is that General Butler was the most decorated US Marine at the time of writing this. He was part of the system and saw how corrupt it was and instead of ignoring it, he became a whistleblower for the corruption. What an icon!

So yes, I agree with this book that war is a racket and as Smudley says “To Hell With War!”

Powerful in its simplicity.

It was straightforward, narrated appropriately and made an effective, poignant point that has not lost its meaning.