![]() But given her repeated endorsement of military intervention while in government, one wonders whether these Iraq War proponents were onto something.Īgain and again, Power uses The Education of an Idealist to defend military action. She spends only a handful of pages on this episode in the memoir, mostly to declare it a “misinterpretation” partly due to “the coincidence of publishing the book in relative proximity to the start of the war.” Perhaps. In the lead-up to the Iraq War, Power was disturbed to see A Problem From Hell trotted out to justify an invasion she did not support. As a global superpower, it has no excuse not to use its unprecedented reach to protect the vulnerable - by military means, if necessary. For Power, the United States must be ever-vigilant against potential slaughter. In this work and elsewhere, Power dredges up shameful histories that others would rather ignore, from American indifference to Jewish suffering during the Holocaust to the State Department’s continuing refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Her involvement with Barack Obama, first in his senatorial office and later in his presidential administration, would have been unthinkable without the glowing reception A Problem From Hell received. The resulting project was A Problem From Hell, the Pulitzer Prize–winning monograph that helped furnish the intellectual justification for humanitarian intervention and established Power as a leading thinker in liberal foreign policy circles. ![]() ![]() ![]() During the Bosnian genocide, Power was a biting objector to US inaction, a stance that pushed her to cover the conflict as a reporter and later to research the United States’ troubling relationship to other twentieth-century genocides. In the abstract, this self-description rings true. Throughout the book, which traces Power’s development from human rights activist and journalist to leading Obama administration figure, Power describes herself as a “critic” of US foreign policy. An unwitting parable, The Education of an Idealist shows what can happen when laudable values never find the radicalism that can truly give them flight. It tells a story of misdirected righteousness, in which Power’s youthful critique of American foreign policy is channeled into a personal and institutional comfort with hegemonic power. Power’s idealistic view of governmental bureaucracy sidesteps a necessary debate about complicity with Trumpian injustice - a striking blind spot for one of the world’s leading experts on genocide.ĭespite the title, the book is less about education than affirmation. With its adoration of the military and praise for the neutrality of “public service,” the memoir raises serious questions about contemporary liberalism’s ability to check antidemocratic trends. Yet her flawed prescriptions - particularly “humanitarian intervention” by the world’s most powerful military - help maintain US dominance in the world and often undermine the very principles they profess to defend. This distinction matters because Power’s political causes - atrocity prevention, support for subjugated minorities, international human rights - should be championed by all decent people. It deftly conveys the linkage between personal biography and political belief, showing Power not as a wily imperialist villain but a committed liberal whose consistent focus on human rights has nonetheless led her to embrace perpetual empire. Samantha Power’s new memoir, The Education of an Idealist, is an important and engaging work that should be widely read - especially by those of us who disagree with her. Review of The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir, by Samantha Power (Dey Street, 2019).
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