The attempt by the United States since 9/11 to establish liberal political regimes in the Middle East and in the mountains of Afghanistan was doomed to fail-and for one simple reason. Imperialism and militarism build empires, not liberalism. And if we do not absorb this truth, the rest of the twenty-first century will be a repeat of its bloodstained beginning. So says Christopher Coyne, Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute and professor of economics at George Mason University, in this eye-opening, must-read book on America's recent foreign policy failures. Since the 19th century, the US government has used its immense power to promote liberal values and create a global liberal empire to "protect" them.