Peter Beinart Icarus Syndrome, The

In The Icarus Syndrome, Peter Beinart examines a century of American hubris. He presents in-depth explorations of three extraordinary generations: the Progressives, led by Woodrow Wilson, who took America into World War I; the "Camelot" intellectuals who became embroiled in Vietnam, led by Lyndon Johnson, and George W. Bush and the post-cold war conservatives, who believed they could conquer and liberate the Middle East at the same time. In each case, America's leaders, much as in the legend of Icarus, crafted "wings" -- a theory about America's relationship to the world. Careful at first, they gradually lost their inhibitions until, giddy with success, they flew into the sun. And in each case, new leaders and thinkers reconciled American optimism with the realities of a complex world. Peter Beinart is associate professor of journalism and political science at the City University of New York and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. He is the senior political writer for The Daily Beast and a contributor to TIME. Beinart is a former fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and is the author of The Good Fight. He lives with his family in Washington, D.C. "A brilliant new book about the pendulum swings of U.S. foreign policy between excessive ambition and excessive retrenchment." -- The Los Angeles Times