"In the little town where I live in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, we now have a 'Public Safety Complex' around the corner from what used to be our hokey Andy Griffith-esque fire station." Prologue, paragraph 1

"Jefferson acted on his pet 'unnecessary soldier' idea when he became president in 1801. He cut the standing army by a third and left the defense against foreign invasion largely to a 'well-regulated militia' under the control of the various states and localities." Chapter 1, paragraph 4

"When Ronald Reagan spoke a thing aloud, he believed it forever and for always. By the time he started running for president, in 1976, he had already developed an unwavering and steadfast faith in the correctness of whatever came out of his mouth." Chapter 2, paragraph 1

"There really is nothing that approaches war's political potency." Chapter 2, paragraph 36

"The military marketers had started retooling their sales pitch when the unspooling Vietnam disaster had...