On so-called wartime prosperity, watch this brief video:

For more information on the economic effects of war, particularly World War II, see Robert Higgs, Depression, War, and Cold War, as well as this longer, more in-depth video.

On the U.S. government’s Middle Eastern policy, see Donald Neff, Fallen Pillars: U.S. Policy Towards Palestine and Israel Since 1945. (Check Bookfinder.com for copies if Amazon doesn’t have many used copies.)

On war and government growth, see Robert Higgs, Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government.

On conservatism and war, see my resource page.

On the poor antiwar record of American liberals, contrary to popular belief, see chapter 7 of my book 33 Questions About American History You’re Not Supposed to Ask.

On how military spending deforms the economy, see chapter 5 of my book Rollback.

On the American antiwar tradition, see the book I co-edited with Murray Polner We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now.

For the libertarian view of war, see Murray N. Rothbard’s “War, Peace, and the State” and Roderick T. Long’s “The Justice and Prudence of War: Toward a Libertarian Analysis.”