The Icarus Syndrome is the best history book that I have read this year. Beinart surveys American foreign policy from the Wilson administration through the 2nd Bush administration. His thesis is that there have been different policy strategies that have worked over the past century, but these strategies cause problems when the government becomes overconfident in its ability to succeed.

The most recent case is the dominant, nation building strategy of the Clinton and Bush administrations. According to the author it sort of worked in the first Iraq war and in Bosnia, but it led to disaster when George Bush over confidently decided that he could bring democracy to Iraq simply by overthrowing Saddam Hussein.

Although not everyone will agree with the thesis, the writing is strong and interesting and Beinart's research was very thorough.