Addicted to War

Front Cover of Addicted to War

Addicted to War: Why The US Can't Kick Militarism, is a 77 letter-sized page "illustrated exposé" by Joel Andreas published by Frank Dorrel with AK Press in 2002 ( ISBN 1-904859-02-X). Originally published in 1991, the book was out of print until Dorrel convinced Andreas to create an updated, post-9/11 version.

The book tells the history of U.S. foreign wars — from the Indian Wars to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — in a comic book format. Including 161 reference notes, the book aims to demonstrate why the U.S. has been involved in more wars in recent years than any other country, and to explain who benefits from these military adventures, who pays and who dies.

Endorsements

On the book front matter is printed a list of personalities who have praised it (those with an asterisk(*) next to their name have served in the U.S. military):

• Noam Chomsky, professor emeritus of Linguistics, and author
• Howard Zinn*, author of A People's History of the United States
• Fernando Suarez del Solar, whose son, Jesús, died fighting in Iraq, March 2003
• Ron Kovic*, Vietnam veteran, author of Born on the Fourth of July
• Martin Sheen, actor, activist
• Susan Sarandon, actress, activist
• Ramsey Clark*, former Attorney General of the United States, author of The Fire This Time: U.S War Crimes in the Gulf War
• Rich Gibson, Marxist educator and co-founder of the Rouge Forum
• Helen Caldicott, Pediatrician and author of Missile Envy
• Woody Harrelson, actor, activist
• S. Brian Willson*, Vietnam Veterans for Peace
• Kathy Kelly, Founder of Voices in the Wilderness
• Jeanmarie Simpson, Founder of the Nevada Shakespeare Company
• Father Roy Bourgeois*, Founder of School of the Americas Watch
• Rev. James Lawson, Colleague of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. from 1957–1968
• Michael Parenti, historian and author of Democracy for the Few
• Medea Benjamin and Kevin Danaher Co-founders of Global Exchange
• Patch Adams, M.D., Founder of Gesundheit! Institute, Vietnam war-era conscientious objector
• Wilson (Woody) Powell*, Executive Director of Veterans for Peace
• William Blum, author of Killing Hope and Rogue State
• Blasé Bonpane,* Ph.D., Director, Office of the Americas
• Edward Asner*, actor, activist
• Michael Franti, musician, Spearhead
• Michael Ruppert, former LAPD narcotics officer
• Kris Kristofferson*, singer/songwriter
• The late U.S. Army Col. James B. Burkholder*
• Russell Means, American Indian patriot

Translations

The book has been translated into a number of languages, including:

• Czech: Válečná Závislost / Ilustrovaný průvodce militarismem USA
• Danish: Afhængig af krig: hvorfor USA ikke kan give slip på militarismen!
• Dutch: Oorlogsjunks: Waarom de VS het militarisme niet kan laten
• Hungarian: Háborúfüggők Miért nem tud az USA kiszállni a fegyverkezésből?
• Italian: Guerradipendenti: Perché gli Usa non possono fare a meno del militarismo
• Finnish: Koukussa sotaan : miksi USA ei pääse irti militarismista?
• German: Süchtig nach Krieg. Warum die USA nicht aufhören können, Krieg zu führen
• Spanish: Adictos a la Guerra (Spain), Adicto a la Guerra: Por Que EEUU No Puede Librarse del Militarismo(AK Press, USA)
• Hindi: 'युद्ध से लगाव(India)'

The first foreign-language edition was that of Japanese, in October 2002, by political activist Yumi Kikuchi. Andreas had not thought that his book would resonate with a foreign audience.^[1]

Notes

External links

• Addicted to War homepage