Enjoy For Free Soldiers Of Reason: The RAND Corporation And The Rise Of The American Empire Envisioned By Alex Abella In EReader Version

of Reason details the history of RAND, from its inception to modern times well,, when the book was published, Abella discusses and details both the important periods of time/events RAND was involved in Cold War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, Iraq War, Watergate, Cuban Missile Crisis, etc.
, as well as the notable people involved Henry Kissinger, Paul Wolfowitz and others and the role they played in guiding both the organization itself and the government exclusively the U.
S. , up until the's it served,

RAND, standing for Research ANd Development, was established to assist the U, S. Air Force in various research capacities, It attracted a widerange of academics, from physicists to social scientists and everyone in between, Nuclear war was the primary focus in the early stages of RAND, where the researchers asked questions about preemptive strikes, strategic locations of munitions and vehicles, and the status of the Soviet's nuclear program.
Game theory was researched by John Von Neumann arguably the greatest polymath of alltime and others to be applied to the Soviet threat,

During the Vietnam War, RAND analysts participated by interviewing North Vietnamese prisonersofwar to learn about their motivation, After finding out that the Vietcong "described themselves as patriots leading a war of national liberation", the analysts realized the war would be a lot more difficult than initially anticipated.
However, it was not their place to decide what was right or wrong, difficult or easy: their job was to synthesize the data and report it, Like America at the time, a large rift was created between RAND employees: prowar and antiwar, Daniel Ellsberg, part of the antiwar faction, was the RAND employee who leaked what is known as the Pentagon Papers, documents detailing the truth on what the U.
S. government was really doing in Vietnam,

In addition to international assignments, RAND also accepted commissions concerning domestic matters, such as one from New York City's mayor John Lindsay to study reformation of the city's unpopular government.
Other federal entities, such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD, have also sought RAND's abilities in improving their methods,

The Soldiers Of Reason's last few chapters discuss terrorism and RAND's role in working with and assisting the U, S. government in combating it.

RAND is still alive and well today rand, org. Their website details all of their research areas and divisions, the reports they publish, the experts they employ, and their abilities, They even have a graduate school for public policy,

Despite being mostly in the shadows, RAND has and will continue to play a large the importance is subjective role in shaping and guiding U, S. policy for the foreseeable future,

Overall, a runofthemill nonfiction book detailing the history of a company, Definitely boring at times, but interesting at others, important book but a too breezy a take for me

the colonialist critique and emphasis on the jewish Americans involved in RAND knocked off a star There arepoints to read in this book.

They are the game theory, birthplace of IT,basis of medical expenses borne in this book,
and they are only important points,
This book is described the overall superficial to RAND, and it is boring ,boring, boring,etc, . .
This book does not need to read, I have long been fascinated by the RAND Corporation, I have lived for many years near its headquarters in Santa Monica and watched with interest as its old buildings sandwiched between Santa Monica City Hall and the beach were demolished and replaced a decade ago.
I have sometimes thought that I might have worked there in the lates and earlys as a Sovietologist after having studied Russian language, literature and history at Harvard, but I never wanted to work for The Man, and, for better or worse, the main defining characteristic of the RAND Corp has always been that they are the lackeys of The Man.
This book starts and ends with a discussion of the social and moral implications of the company's position as a lackey of the establishment, but it's principal focus is more on the company's extreme position as a champion of reason to the exclusion of nonrational aspects of human behavior and society, so that RAND has achieved much but its fatal flaw has been hubris associated with excessive faith in reason as the single answer to all problems.


RAND has been an incubator for an incredible number of brilliant thinkers, Thirty two Nobel laureates have worked at RAND, The long list of influential scholars, diplomats and high government officials who worked there is awesome, It was the birthplace of nearly every important Ameican military strategy since its founding in thes, particularly with respect to nuclear weapons strategy and the adoption of modern technology by American armed forces.
The ideas that have come out of RAND have taken us more than once to the brink of nuclear destruction but have managed also to save us more than once and have kept us from falling over the edge into nuclear obliteration.
But perhaps the two most powerful ideas that have come out of RAND, which have had repercussions far beyond the military, are rational choice theory and systems analysis.
There is no question that these are powerful tools that can provide deep insights when used properly, but when used blindly without a leavening of humanity they are beyond toxic.


One of the weaknesses of this book is its lack of personal color, The only one of the RANDians who shines forth with a personality is Alfred Wohlstetter, Even in his case, a clearly fascinating personality is overshadowed in the presentation of this book by his role in policy matters, And most of the rest of the RAND characters are given to us more as names, numbers and policies than as individuals, In this regard, the book was a missed opportunity, because I am certain that many of these people were fun, interesting and idiosyncratic, More stories and personal anecdotes would have made the book more enjoyable and would have served the underlying theme of the book by showing the irony of a company filled with interesting people that was unable to appreciate the human factor.
Expected more of an academic history but got something a little more pop and light, Kind of a nice surprise, but the book seriously runs aground when it tries to cover terrorism in a chapter near the end, Plus theres the omnipresent problem in stuff like this where they cant cover large chunks of the story because its still classified,

Still, when the book is churning, its a wonderful look at the rise of the national security state towards the beginning of the Cold War, Generally I don't do much nonfiction, but I enjoyed reading this book for the most part, I chose it while applying for jobs at two different FFRDCs federally funded research and development centers Soldiers of Reason is a historic account of the RAND Corporation and in its early days Aerospace was its arch nemesis, competing for Air Force funding.
The middle portion sounded a lot like my Poli Sci classes at the University of Wisconsin nuclear deterrence, game theory, first strike, Mutually Assured Destruction MAD, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks SALT, and made me a little sleepy.
I learned a lot about RAND's part in some of America's most humbling and tragic chapters, like Vietnam and Watergate and the prelude to Desert Storm in Afghanistan.
I wouldn't say I'm a fan of Alex Abella's writing style perse, but I think he did a thorough job of chronicling RAND the secretive think tank my soontobe employer! and its founders.
Soldiers of Reason: The RAND Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire is a book written by Alex Abella, a journalist and author, The book was published inand is a history of the RAND Corporation, a think tank that has played a significant role in shaping American foreign policy and military strategy.
The book explores the origins and evolution of the RAND Corporation, and how it has influenced the development of American foreign policy and military strategy, It discusses the ways in which the organization

has contributed to the formulation of strategic thinking and policy analysis in the United States, and how it has shaped the direction of American foreign policy and the global order.
The book is a detailed and informative account of the history and impact of the RAND Corporation, and is intended to provide readers with a deeper understanding of the role that think tanks play in shaping global politics and policy.


GPT The RAND Corporation was always one of those things on the periphery that you knew of maybe and why they existed again, maybe, If you were an investigative sort or a politicopolicy junkie of the lastyears you definitely knew who they were and that they were originally set up to consult for the Air Force.
"Soldiers of Reason" lets everyone learn about the formation, operation and effects of this groundbreaking organization,

As a history of the RAND corporation I found the book to be wellconceived, written, and researched, The initial impetus for it's formation at the close of World War II and how it derived naturally from institutions/groups that preceded it are very well described.
Then it proceeds stepbystep, decadebydecade how it's analysts, planners and personalities created systems of thinking and acting that influenced the official and unofficial policies of the US Government and groups of powerful individuals.
Taken solely as a tale of power and changing the government, it is a fascinating and for some possibly unsettling, There is fodder for conspiracy theorists here but it is facts, not conjecture that are presented, How you interpret those facts is up to the individual reader, I found myself wondering about the author while finishing up the book: is he pro or contra on RAND and its history Neutral isn't a real option, as that is tacit approval.


Mr. Arbella skillfully takes what could have been a dry and "monotone" text and spices it up with the personalities and personal stories of many of RAND's key and publicly seen leaders, analysts, and former employees who were highlevel government officials.
The list of people who interned at, worked for before and often after government service or even elected office is quite large, And there is an even larger list of those who worked with such individuals on committees or in groups with specific aims in changing the nature and direction of the US and its official policies.
Starting in the mids there were several high profile RANDites that showed up in popular news and cultural channels, One of the bestknown derivatives was Stanley Kubrick's movie, "Dr, Strangelove " in which nuclear controls, weapons, and a "doomsday machine" are parodied, The movie also parodies Henry Kissinger who was at the timea RAND consultant, Kissinger is the only "RANDite" who received a Nobel prize in something other than a hard science most were mathematics or physics,

I heard of this book a while ago and was looking forward to reading it, I didn't have any preconceived notions of what would be in it, I liked reading it and learned a lot from this book mostly who the specific individuals were and the role RAND played in many key decisions, Even if I had a deeper preknowledge of who and what the organization was, I would have enjoyed this book, It is concise, but not too concise, wellwritten and moves along at a good pace, There is a naturally greater weighting of the earlier decades of the organization, I say "naturally" because this is when it helped to reshape the government military and nonmilitary, crafted nuclear strategies and force deployments, and released the first wave of RANDinfluenced technocrats.
I don't think that the later years are slighted perhaps there could have been more details included, but there is plenty of content, opinion, and conjecture for even the most recent years covered.


Where one might want the author to expand on the material or perhaps take a stand is in the "evil" things that were done by these individuals or by their plans during the organization's existence.
But what is "evil" That's a personal question and one that liberals, "true" conservatives, neoconservatives, and libertarians will also answer differently, More importantly it becomes a personal question of what is ethical or moral, Is the ability to garner information more important than how a prisoner is treated, for example, Although there are a few passages where these type of issues are presented, for the most part the author leaves these questions unasked and uncommented on, But where he does is interesting and it leads to my earlier statement: is he for or against the way in which things developed Despite these issues, I think the book deserves at least a "."
and that's why I am rating it as a "", Perhaps another author will take up the challenge, but will they get RAND's cooperation like this author did

If the RAND Corporation was a fictional company created by a great author, it's hard to imagine how they could have created it with a greater ability to shape the US and by extension the world.
Or, how it could be seen both as a positive entity that saved the world many times from nuclear destruction or as an unaccountable and essentially secret entity that brought us to the brink of war and ultimately to a world that is highly polarized without a Soviet Union.
But it's not fiction: it is the story of an organization that did and still does directly and indirectly shape the world we live in and will in the future.
Even if you don't care about the past, you might want to read this to know how potentially worldchanging decisions are made, I don't think you will be disappointed,

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