The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives (American Empire Project)

Fascinating no matter where you place yourself on the ideological spectrum.―Wired. Now in paperback a stunning breakdown of the modern military-industrial complex―an omnipresent hidden-in-plain-sight system of systems that penetrates all our lives.. From iPods to Starbucks to Oakley sunglasses historian Nick Turse explores the Pentagons little-noticed contacts (and contracts) with the products and companies that now form the fabric of America. He investigates the remarkable range of military incursions into the civilian world: the Pentagons collaborations with Hollywood filmmakers; its outlandish schemes to weaponize the wild kingdom; its joint ventures with Marvel Comics and NASCAR. Similarly disturbing is the way in which the military desperate for fresh recruits has tapped into the culture of cool by making friends on MySpace.. A striking vision of this brave new world of remote-controlled rats and super-soldiers who need no sleep The Complex will change our understanding of the militarization of America. We are a long way from Eisenhowers military-industrial complex: this is the essential book for understanding its twenty-first-century progeny.