The main point I want to make in my comment on Christopher Coyne’s (2022) book, In Search of Monsters to Destroy, is that you should all read this book.That’s my first and maybe my only point that I want to get across to you. I’ve been waiting for this book for over 20 years. I first became dismayed right after 9/11 to see how the field of economic development was shifting into the business of what was called “fixing failed states.” It was an idea that was endorsed by a number of economists and political scientists. But I think it’s been, simply, a disastrous idea. And it gained much more prominence and purchase than it should have. And so, I’ve been waiting for a long time for somebody like Chris to come along and critically re-examine that disastrous idea.

Reading this book, I find so many delightful parts. Did you know that the U.S. military has 500 military sites all over the world (Coyne 2022, 25)? That’s just astonishing. It’s far beyond what you would have thought, even if you were aware of American military overreach.

KEYWORDS: Christopher Coyne, In Search of Monsters to Destroy, Economic Development, Liberalism, Anti-Imperialism