Ain't My America: The Long, Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism and Middle-American Anti-Imperialism

Ain't My America is a fascinating and valuable book; it will remain on my shelf. One can often tell when a book held my attention by (if I own it) the frequency of underlining in it. Well, the amount of ink I expended on this book is enormous; there is a word, a sentence or an entire paragraph underlined at least once, usually much more, on every page. Some pages are a mess of smeared ink.

I have probably never encountered an author who shows off his extensive vocabulary this much. The late William F. Buckley looks like Beavis in comparison. I'm not sure what to make of this, though. On one hand, if you have an extensive vocabulary, why wouldn't you use it; on the other hand, I know too many jerks already who use archaic words just to show more show off how smart they think they are.

Kauffman is obnoxious in a way much more obvious than that. He's smug, snide and insulting in commenting on the thinkers or politicians he deems militaristic; it makes him come off as self-righteous and self-assured. The passive-aggressive rebelliousness (not anger) simmers beneath every line. At some point I thought and even wrote in a margin, "What is this jerk's problem?" I know what it is: besides being a pacifist and strong localist, Kauffman has anarchist or anarcho-libertarian sympathies that I can't relate to. One figures that out more from reading about him and observing his book titles than reading what he says in Ain't My America; the book has nothing to do with anarcho-libertarian political ideas. It doesn't necessarily make his views look good, and makes me more hesitant to read his other books. show less