America’s War on Terror, 2nd ed. Edited by Tom Lansford, Robert P. Watson, and Jack Covarrubias. Farnham, UK: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2009. ISBN 978-0-7546-7787-1. Figures. Tables. Contributors. Appendices. Bibliography. Index. Pp. 312. $39.95 (paperback).

America’s War on Terrorism, 2nd edition is an edited multi-authored volume comprised of contributions on the historical, normative, evaluative, and ethical issues surrounding the American perspective of the war on terrorism launched in 2001 in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The second edition updates the 2003 edition to incorporate new information and insights gained in the intervening seven years of the war on terror. The new volume incorporates eight new chapters, and reorders the previous chapters. Part 3 of the book is completely revamped from “International Implications”, which previously evaluated the military nature of the war on terror, into a section on “Foreign Policy Implications” that evaluates the impact of the war on terror in the international arena. Part 4 is developed into an elaborate “Future Challenges” section that brings the reader back to the ethical and moral debates surrounding the war on terrorism and leaves the discussion as a partial post-script on the Bush Administration, while starting a preface on the Obama Administration.

Overview