See Andrew Bacevich, "The New American Militarism: Hiw Americans are Seduced by War, " Oxford Univ. Press. American as in U.S. Militarism, isn't, ahem, new. but, the book as well as his previous texts, are exxcellent. Informed by leftist historians like W.A. Williams, who like him went to military academies. In Williams case Annapolis, Bacevich, West Point.Very sharp on the neo-cons and the millenialist Protestant ideoloogical underpinnings of the Empire.
The Imperial Tense: Prospects and Problems of American Empire. Chicago: Ivan Dee (2003) (editor). American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U. S. Diplomacy. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press (2002)
On Gott, can't say I was inclined to like his books on Chavez or the newer one on Cuba http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=0300111142 but, they are quite good as well.Though I am also reading this to counterbalance Gott on Cuba, "After Fidel : The Inside Story of Castro's Regime and Cuba's Next Leader, " by Brian Latell, blurbed by J. Castenada.Has much on Raul Castro, the likely successor to Fidel.
-- Michael Pugliese