War is a Racket - Definition and Overview

War is a Racket (1935) is a short work by Major General Smedley Darlington Butler of the United States Marine Corps, in which he takes a cynical view of the profit motive behind warfare. He points to a variety of examples, mostly from World War I, in which a few entrepreneurs and capitalists made great profits off the loss and the suffering of many and in spite of public cost.

It is divided into five chapters:

1. War is a racket
2. Who makes the profits?
3. Who pays the bills?
4. How to smash this racket!
5. To hell with war!

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about:

Smedley Butler

• War is a Racket (online text) (http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm)
• War is a Racket (images of origional publication) (http://www.rationalrevolution.net/special/war_is_a_racket.htm)