America’s politicians and statesmen surround themselves with the symbols and trappings of armed prowess; its commentators mock and scorn countries that hesitate to engage in armed conflict. It is this differential recollection of war and its impact, rather than any structural difference between the US and otherwise comparable countries, which accounts for their contrasting responses to international affairs today.
— Tony Judt, Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century
