Washington Is Burning

A devastating account of contemporary American military folly, political dysfunction, and corruption by the Washington editor of Harper’s Magazine

During the war of 1812 British Admiral George Cockburn fought his way to Washington, DC and torched the White House, the Capitol, and much of official Washington. Cockburn became the most hated man in America, vilified in the press as the “great bandit.” Here, his descendant Andrew Cockburn—longtime Washington editor of Harper’s Magazine—sets fire to our pieties about contemporary Washington, focusing on the spectacular folly, greed, and corruption that define American politics.

Cockburn charts the hidden hands that really control the US government, including the bureaucrats and courtiers who keep things the way they like them, easily repelling feeble attempts by reformers to change Washington. He is withering on the American military bureaucracy and defense industry that is constantly calling for increased budgets and spending. After wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, today the Pentagon has sought fresh rewards in inflating the threat from China, deploying time-tested techniques to boost the budget including the invocation of supposedly superior enemy weapons development.

As Cockburn writes, the American empire is either at the start of a new age or tumbling into final decline. With Trump returned to the White House, Washington Is Burning is must-read account of how Washington really works.