Beinart, Peter. The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris.(Brief article)(Book review)

Beinart, Peter. The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris. Harper: HarperCollins. Jun. 2010. c.496p. index. ISBN 978-0-06-145646-6. $27.99. HIST

In The Good Fight (2006), Beinart (senior political writer, The Daily Beast; journalism & political science, CUNY) argued that American liberals need a foreign policy vision rooted in lessons from the Cold War. Here, he reviews U.S. foreign policy from Woodrow Wilson to George W. Bush and finds a parallel in the Greek legend of Icarus. As hubris of flight brought down Icarus, a "hubris of reason" afflicted Wilson after World War I, a "hubris of toughness" Lyndon Johnson and others, and a "hubris of dominance" the George W. …