View source for Max Boot

{{Short description|Russian-American writer and historian (born 1969)}}
{{Third-party|date=January 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Max Boot
| image            = Max Boot at the 2024 Library of Congress National Book Festival on August 24, 2024 (cropped).jpg
| caption          = Boot in 2024
| birth_date       = {{Birth date and age|1969|9|12}}
| birth_place      = [[Moscow]], [[Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
| spouse           = [[Sue Mi Terry]]<ref>{{cite news | last=Ladden=Hall | first=Dan | title=Ex-White House Official Worked for South Korea in Exchange for Designer Bags, Prosecutors Say | date=July 17, 2024 | url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-white-house-official-worked-for-south-korea-in-exchange-for-designer-bags-prosecutors | work=thedailybeast.com }}</ref>
| occupation       = Writer, historian
| education        = [[University of California, Berkeley]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />[[Yale University]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])<br>[[London School of Economics]]
| subject          = [[Military history]]
| relatives        = [[Alexander Boot]] (father)
| website          = {{URL|maxboot.net}}
}}
'''Max A. Boot'''<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-06-16-op-1257-story.html|title=Campus Correspondence: The Vast Emptiness at the Core of Today's Liberal Arts Education|date=June 16, 1991|first=Max A.|last=Boot|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> (born September 12, 1969) is a Russian-born [[naturalized citizen|naturalized American]] author, [[editorialist]], lecturer, and [[military historian]].<ref name=los/> He worked as a writer and editor for ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'' and then for ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' in the 1990s. Since then, he has been the [[Jeane J. Kirkpatrick]] Senior Fellow in National Security Studies at the [[Council on Foreign Relations]] and a contributor to ''[[The Washington Post]]''. He has written for such publications as ''[[The Weekly Standard]]'', the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', and ''[[The New York Times]]'', and he has authored books of military history.<ref name="cfr">{{cite book | isbn=978-0871409416 | title=The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam | last1=Boot | first1=Max | date=January 9, 2018 | publisher=National Geographic Books }}</ref> In 2018, Boot published ''The Road Not Taken'', a biography of [[Edward Lansdale]], which was a New York Times bestseller<ref name="cfr"/> and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for biography,<ref>https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/max-boot</ref> and ''The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I Left the Right'', which details Boot's "ideological journey from a 'movement' conservative to a man without a party",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://books.wwnorton.com/books/978-1-63149-567-0/|title=The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I Left The Right|publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]]}}</ref> in the aftermath of the [[2016 U.S. presidential election]]. His biography of [[Ronald Reagan]], ''[[Reagan: His Life and Legend]]'',<ref>{{cite web | url=https://wwnorton.com/books/9780871409447 | title=Reagan }}</ref> was a [[New York Times Bestseller]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2024/09/29/hardcover-nonfiction/ | title=Hardcover Nonfiction Books - Best Sellers - Books - Sept. 29, 2024 - the New York Times | work=The New York Times }}</ref> and named one of the ''[[New York Times]]''{{'}} 10 Best Books of 2024,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/books/best-books-2024.html | title=The 10 Best Books of 2024 | work=The New York Times | date=December 3, 2024 }}</ref> as well as one of the year's best books by ''[[The Washington Post]]''<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/11/21/best-nonfiction/</ref> and ''[[The New Yorker]]<ref>{{cite magazine | url=https://www.newyorker.com/best-books-2024 | title=The Best Books of 2024 | magazine=[[The New Yorker]] | date=January 24, 2024 }}</ref>''.

==Personal life==

Boot was born in Moscow.<ref name=times>{{cite news|url=http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/max_boot/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=max%20boot&st=cse |title=Max Boot|newspaper =The New York Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130125113754/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/max_boot/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=max%20boot&st=cse|archive-date=January 25, 2013|access-date=January 12, 2017}}</ref> His parents and grandmother, all [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russian Jews]], emigrated from the [[Soviet Union]], his father in 1973 to New York, and he and his mother and grandmother in 1976 to [[Los Angeles]], where he was raised and eventually gained naturalized U.S. citizenship.<ref name=times/><ref>{{Cite news|last= Boot |first= Max|title=I came to this country 41 years ago. Now I feel like I don't belong here. |newspaper=[[Washington Post]]|date=September 5, 2017 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2017/09/05/i-came-to-this-country-41-years-ago-now-trump-is-making-me-feel-like-i-dont-belong-here/  |quote= I am White. I am Jewish. I am an immigrant. I am a Russian American.}}</ref> Boot attended the [[University of California, Berkeley]] where he graduated with honors with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in [[history]] in 1991 and [[Yale University]] with an [[Master's Degree|MA]] in Diplomatic History in 1992.<ref name=los>{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-bio-boot-b,1,1328033.blurb?coll=la-news-columns |title=Max Boot |access-date=January 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050506024247/http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-bio-boot-b%2C1%2C1328033.blurb?coll=la-news-columns |archive-date=May 6, 2005 |work=Los Angeles Times |url-status=dead }}</ref> He began his career in [[journalism]] writing columns for the Berkeley [[student newspaper]] ''[[The Daily Californian]]''.<ref name=back>{{cite web|title=Conversation with Max Boot: Background|url=http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people3/Boot/boot-con1.html|publisher=Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley|last1=Barnes|first1=Thomas|last2=Kreisler|first2=Harry|date=2003|access-date=January 22, 2008|archive-date=February 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224201854/http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people3/Boot/boot-con1.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> He later said that he believes he is the only conservative writer in that paper's history.<ref name=back/> {{As of|2005}}, Boot and his family lived in the [[New York State|New York]] area.<ref name=los/>

Max Boot's spouse is [[Sue Mi Terry]]. On July 16, 2024, Terry was indicted and arrested for allegedly acting as an unregistered foreign agent of the South Korean government.<ref name="NYT20240716">{{Cite news |last=Fahy |first=Claire |date=2024-07-16 |title=U.S. Accuses Former C.I.A. Analyst of Working for South Korea |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/nyregion/sue-mi-terry-cia-south-korea.html |access-date=2024-07-16 |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2024-07-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240716214138/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/nyregion/sue-mi-terry-cia-south-korea.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Stempel |first=Jonathan |date=July 16, 2024 |title=Former White House official is indicted for acting as South Korea agent |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ex-white-house-official-indicted-acting-south-korea-agent-2024-07-16/ |access-date=July 16, 2024 |work=[[Reuters]]}}</ref> Boot co-authored an opinion piece with Terry for the ''Washington Post'' in 2023. According to prosecutors, the article was written at the behest of South Korean officials and used information they provided without disclosing the involvement of the Korean government. Boot has not been accused of any wrongdoing.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Schaffer|first1=Aaron|last2=Nakashima|first2=Ellen|date=July 16, 2024|title=Ex-CIA analyst accused of working for South Korean intelligence service|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/07/16/terry-south-korea-cia-fara/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|archive-url=https://archive.today/20240717215220/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/07/16/terry-south-korea-cia-fara/|archive-date=July 17, 2024|url-status=live}}</ref> The indictment has been critiziced by civil liberties groups as a threat to freedom of speech.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lippman |first=Daniel |date=March 6, 2025 |title="First Amendment groups go to bat in Terry case." |url=https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2025/03/06/first-amendment-groups-go-to-bat-in-terry-case-00217032 |work=[[Politico]]}}</ref>

==Career==
Boot has been the [[Jeane J. Kirkpatrick]] Senior Fellow in National Security Studies at the [[Council on Foreign Relations]] (CFR), a contributing editor to ''[[The Weekly Standard]]'' and the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', and a regular contributor to other publications such as ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', ''[[The Washington Post]]'' and ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref name=los/> He has [[blog]]ged regularly for ''[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]]'' since 2007,<ref>"[https://www.commentarymagazine.com/author/max-boot Author Archive: Max Boot]". ''Commentary''. Retrieved January 13, 2017.</ref> and for several years on its blog page called ''Contentions''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/category/contentions/contentions?author_name=boot |title=Max Boot|work=Commentary|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110207080048/http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/category/contentions?author_name=boot |archive-date=February 7, 2011|access-date=January 13, 2017}}</ref> He has given lectures at U.S. military institutions such as the [[U.S. Army War College|Army War College]] and the [[Command and General Staff College]].<ref name=los/>

Boot worked as a writer and as an editor for ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'' from 1992 to 1994. He moved to ''The Wall Street Journal'' for the next eight years.<ref name=cfr/> After writing an investigative column about legal issues called "Rule of Law" for four years, he was promoted to editor of the op-ed page.<ref name=vevel>{{cite news|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=May 24, 1998|access-date=August 21, 2009|title=Sentencing the Judges|first=Lawrence|last=Velvel|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/29670339.html?dids=29670339:29670339&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+24%2C+1998&author=Lawrence+Velvel&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Sentencing+the+Judges&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131194805/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/29670339.html?dids=29670339:29670339&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+24,+1998&author=Lawrence+Velvel&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Sentencing+the+Judges&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 31, 2013}}</ref>

Boot left the ''Journal'' in 2002 to join the [[Council on Foreign Relations]] as a Senior Fellow in National Security Studies.<ref name=cfr/> His initial writings with the CFR appeared in several publications, including ''[[The New York Post]]'', ''[[The Times]]'', ''[[Financial Times]]'', and ''[[International Herald Tribune]]''.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110604070139/http://www.cfr.org/experts/israel-democracy-and-human-rights-iraq/max-boot/b5641?groupby=3&hide=1&id=5641&filter=2002 Max Boot – Publications – 2002]. [[Council of Foreign Relations]]. Accessed August 30, 2009.</ref>

{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?104104-1/out-order ''Booknotes'' interview with Boot on ''Out of Order'', May 31, 1998], [[C-SPAN]]| video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?169921-1/the-savage-wars-peace Presentation by Boot on ''The Savage Wars of Peace'', April 25, 2002], [[C-SPAN]]| video3 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?195477-1/war-made-new Presentation by Boot on ''War Made New'', November 14, 2006], [[C-SPAN]]| video4 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?195560-5/war-made-new ''Washington Journal'' interview with Boot on ''War Made New'', December 20, 2006], [[C-SPAN]]| video5 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?197839-7/war-made-new Presentation by Boot on ''War Made New'', April 29, 2007], [[C-SPAN]]| video6 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?310429-1/invisible-armies Presentation by Boot on ''Invisible Armies'', January 17, 2013], [[C-SPAN]]| video7 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?438632-1/max-boot-discusses-the-road-not-taken Presentation by Boot on ''The Road Not Taken'', January 9, 2018], [[C-SPAN]]| video8 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?452815-5/washington-journal-max-boot-discusses-state-conservatism-us ''Washington Journal'' interview with Boot on ''The Corrosion of Conservatism'', October 11, 2018], [[C-SPAN]]| video9 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?453559-2/the-corrosion-conservatism Presentation by Boot on ''The Corrosion of Conservatism'', October 29, 2018], [[C-SPAN]]}}
Boot wrote ''Savage Wars of Peace'', a study of small wars in American history, with [[Basic Books]] in 2002.<ref name=cfr/> The title came from [[Kipling]]'s poem "[[White Man's Burden]]".<ref name=powell/> James A. Russell in ''[[Journal of Cold War Studies]]'' criticized the book, saying that "Boot did none of the critical research, and thus the inferences he draws from his uncritical rendition of history are essentially meaningless."<ref>Russell, James A. [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_cold_war_studies/v006/6.3russell.html "The Savage Wars of Peace: Review"]. ''[[Journal of Cold War Studies]]'' 6.3 (2004) pp. 124–126</ref> [[Benjamin Schwarz (writer)|Benjamin Schwarz]] argued in ''The New York Times'' that Boot asked the U.S. military to do a "nearly impossible task", and he criticized the book as "unrevealing".<ref name=powell>[https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/21/books/the-post-powell-doctrine.html "The Post-Powell Doctrine"]. By Benjamin Schwarz. ''The New York Times''. Published July 21, 2002. Retrieved August 22, 2009.</ref> [[Victor Davis Hanson]] in [[History News Network]] gave a positive review, saying that "Boot's well-written narrative is not only fascinating reading, but didactic as well".<ref>[http://hnn.us/articles/699.html "Books: Max Boot's The Savage Wars of Peace"]. By [[Victor Davis Hanson]]. [[History News Network]]. Published April 29, 2002.</ref> Robert M. Cassidy in ''[[Military Review]]'' labeled it "extraordinary".<ref>Cassidy, Robert M. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PBZ/is_6_84/ai_n15399746/ "The Savage Wars of Peace"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091226183507/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PBZ/is_6_84/ai_n15399746/ |date=December 26, 2009 }}. ''Military Review'', Nov–Dec 2004. Retrieved August 21, 2009.</ref> Boot's book also won the 2003 General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award from the [[Marine Corps Heritage Foundation]] as the best non-fiction book recently published pertaining to Marine Corps history.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.librarything.com/bookaward/General+Wallace+M.+Greene+Jr.+Award|title=General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award – Book awards – LibraryThing|website=librarything.com}}</ref>

Boot wrote once again for the CFR in 2003 and 2004.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110604070239/http://www.cfr.org/experts/israel-democracy-and-human-rights-iraq/max-boot/b5641?groupby=3&hide=1&id=5641&filter=2003 Max Boot – Publications – 2003]. [[Council of Foreign Relations]]. Accessed August 30, 2009.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110604070334/http://www.cfr.org/experts/israel-democracy-and-human-rights-iraq/max-boot/b5641?groupby=3&hide=1&id=5641&filter=2004 Max Boot – Publications – 2004]. Council of Foreign Relations. Accessed August 30, 2009.</ref>

The [[World Affairs Councils of America]] named Boot one of "the 500 most influential people in the United States in the field of foreign policy" in 2004.<ref name=cfr/> He also worked as member of the [[Project for the New American Century]] (PNAC) in 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newamericancentury.org/russia-20040928.htm|title=An Open Letter to the Heads of State and Government of the European Union and NATO|publisher=Project for the New American Century|date=September 28, 2004|access-date=August 21, 2009|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040929083336/http://www.newamericancentury.org/russia-20040928.htm|archive-date=September 29, 2004|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Boot published the work ''War Made New'', an analysis of revolutions in military technology since 1500, in 2006.<ref name=cfr/> The book's central thesis is that a military succeeds when it has the dynamic, forward-looking structures and administration in place to exploit new technologies. It concludes that the U.S. military may lose its edge if it does not become flatter, less bureaucratic, and more decentralized.<ref>[http://www.brookings.edu/events/2006/1026defense.aspx War Made New] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308133246/http://www.brookings.edu/events/2006/1026defense.aspx |date=March 8, 2008 }}. [[Brookings Institution]]. Published October 26, 2006.</ref> The book received praise from [[Josiah Bunting III]] in ''The New York Times'', who called it "unusual and magisterial",<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/books/review/Bunting.t.html?_r=1 "Killing Machines"]. By [[Josiah Bunting III|Josiah Bunting]]. ''[[The New York Times]]''. Published December 17, 2006. Retrieved August 21, 2009.</ref> and criticism from [[Martin Sieff]] in ''[[The American Conservative]]'', who called it "remarkably superficial".<ref>Sieff, Martin. [http://www.amconmag.com/article/2007/mar/12/00029/ "On War It's Not"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326093228/http://www.amconmag.com/article/2007/mar/12/00029/ |date=March 26, 2009 }}. ''The American Conservative''. Published March 12, 2007. Retrieved August 21, 2009.</ref>

Boot wrote many more articles with the CFR in 2007,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110622071451/http://www.cfr.org/experts/israel-democracy-and-human-rights-iraq/max-boot/b5641?groupby=3&hide=1&id=5641&filter=2007 Max Boot – Publications – 2007]. Council of Foreign Relations. Accessed August 30, 2009.</ref> and he received the [[Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalism]] that year.<ref name=cfr/> In an April 2007 episode of ''[[Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg]]'', Boot stated that he "used to be a journalist" and that he currently views himself purely as a [[military historian]].<ref name=quo>[https://www.pbs.org/thinktank/transcript1254.html "America, Quo Vadis?" Part 1]. ''[[Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg]]''. Originally broadcast April 12, 2007. Retrieved August 21, 2009.</ref> Boot served as a foreign policy adviser to [[United States Senate|Senator]] [[John McCain]] in his [[2008 United States presidential election]] bid.<ref>{{cite news |title=The War Over the Wonks  |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/documents/the-war-over-the-wonks.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=October 2, 2007 |access-date=December 4, 2007}}</ref> He stated in an editorial in ''World Affairs Journal'' that he saw strong parallels between [[Theodore Roosevelt]] and [[John McCain|McCain]].<ref name=cfr08>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110604070652/http://www.cfr.org/experts/israel-democracy-and-human-rights-iraq/max-boot/b5641?groupby=3&hide=1&id=5641&filter=2008 Max Boot – Publications – 2008]. Council of Foreign Relations. Accessed August 30, 2009.</ref> Boot continued to write for the CFR in several publications in 2008 and 2009.<ref name=cfr08/><ref>[https://archive.today/20130414164612/http://www.cfr.org/experts/national-security-warfare-terrorism/max-boot/b5641?groupby=3&hide=1&id=5641&filter=2009 Max Boot – Publications – 2009]. Council of Foreign Relations. Accessed August 30, 2009.</ref>

[[File:Current Strategy Forum 100608-N-9923C-222 (4682746513).jpg|alt=Max Boot sitting at a table on stage, with Henry R. Nau seated to his right, at the 2010 Current Strategy Forum at the Naval War College in Rhode Island.|300x300px|Max Boot (R) speaks at the second panel discussion at the 2010 Current Strategy Forum at the Naval War College.|thumb]]

Boot wrote for the CFR through 2010 and 2011 for publications such as ''Newsweek'', ''[[The Boston Globe]]'', ''The New York Times'' and ''The Weekly Standard''. He particularly argued that President [[Barack Obama]]'s [[Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act|health care plans]] made maintaining U.S. superpower status harder, that withdrawal of U.S. troops from [[Iraq]] occurred prematurely while making another war there more likely, and that the initial U.S. victory in [[Afghanistan]] had been undone by government complacency though forces could still pull off a victory. He also wrote op-eds criticizing planned [[Austerity|budget austerity measures]] in both the U.S. and the U.K. as hurting their national security interests.<ref>[http://www.cfr.org/experts/national-security-warfare-terrorism/max-boot/b5641?filter=2009&groupby=3&amp%3Bhide=1&filter=2010 Max Boot – Publications – 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013053048/http://www.cfr.org/experts/national-security-warfare-terrorism/max-boot/b5641?filter=2009&groupby=3&amp%3Bhide=1&filter=2010 |date=October 13, 2014 }}. [[Council of Foreign Relations]].</ref><ref>[http://www.cfr.org/experts/national-security-warfare-terrorism/max-boot/b5641?filter=2010&groupby=3&amp%3Bhide=1&filter=2011 Max Boot – Publications – 2011] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013051204/http://www.cfr.org/experts/national-security-warfare-terrorism/max-boot/b5641?filter=2010&groupby=3&amp%3Bhide=1&filter=2011 |date=October 13, 2014 }}. Council of Foreign Relations.</ref>

In September 2012, Boot co-wrote with [[Brookings Institution]] senior fellow Michael Doran a ''New York Times'' op-ed titled "5 Reasons to Intervene in Syria Now", advocating U.S. military force to create a countrywide [[no-fly zone]] reminiscent of [[NATO]]'s role in the [[Kosovo War]]. He stated first and second that "American intervention would diminish Iran's influence in the Arab world" and that "a more muscular American policy could keep the conflict from spreading" with "sectarian strife in Lebanon and Iraq". Third, Boot argued that "training and equipping reliable partners within [[Syria]]'s internal opposition" could help "create a bulwark against extremist groups like Al Qaeda". He concluded that "American leadership on Syria could improve relations with key allies like Turkey and Qatar" as well as "end a terrible human-rights disaster".<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/27/opinion/5-reasons-to-intervene-in-syria-now.html | work=The New York Times | first1=Michael | last1=Doran | first2=Max | last2=Boot | title=5 Reasons to Intervene in Syria Now | date=September 26, 2012}}</ref>

Another well received book by Boot, titled ''Invisible Armies'' (2013), is about the history of [[guerrilla warfare]], analyzing various cases of successful and unsuccessful insurgent efforts such as the fighting during the [[American Revolutionary War|American war of independence]], the [[Vietnam War]], and the current [[Syrian Civil War]]. He states that traditional, [[Conventional war|conventional army]] tactics as employed by the American military under the administrations of [[George W. Bush|President Bush]] and [[Barack Obama|President Obama]] against guerrilla organizations have produced strategic failures. Boot has discussed his book in various programs such as the [[Hoover Institution]]'s ''[[Uncommon Knowledge]]'' series, appearing on it in January 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hoover.org/research/max-boot-guerilla-warfare|title=Max Boot on guerilla warfare|publisher=Hoover Institute}}</ref>

==Political beliefs==
Boot considers himself to be a "natural [[contrarian]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people3/Boot/boot-con1.html|title=Conversation with Max Boot, p. 1 of 7|website=globetrotter.berkeley.edu|access-date=January 22, 2008|archive-date=February 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224201854/http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people3/Boot/boot-con1.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> He identifies as a [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]], once joking that "I grew up in the 1980s, when conservatism was cool".<ref name=heck>{{cite news |first=Max |last=Boot |title=What the Heck Is a 'Neocon'?  |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB104121045871745553 |department=Opinion |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=December 30, 2002 |access-date=December 28, 2017}}</ref> He is in favor of [[limited government]] at home and American leadership abroad,<ref name=LAT/> believing America should be "the [[Pax Americana|world's policeman]]".<ref>Max Boot, "Does America Need an Empire?" Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz Memorial Lecture at UC Berkeley, March 12, 2003</ref>

Boot was one of the earliest proponents of the [[Iraq War|US invasion and occupation of Iraq]].<ref name="weeklystandard-iraq"/> In October 2001, in an article titled "The Case for American Empire", he proposed that the United States must greatly increase its military engagement against other countries and compared his proposal to [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|invade Afghanistan]] and [[Iraq]] with the American role in defeating [[Nazi Germany]]. He wrote:<ref name="weeklystandard-iraq">{{Cite web|url=https://www.weeklystandard.com/max-boot/the-case-for-american-empire|title=The Case for American Empire|last=Boot|first=Max|date=October 15, 2001|work=The Weekly Standard |publisher=Washington Examiner |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526073157/https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/the-case-for-american-empire |archive-date=May 26, 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QQAhDAAAQBAJ&q=max+boot+The+Case+for+American+Empire+Once+Afghanistan+has+been+dealt+with&pg=PA45|title=Ex-Neocon: Dispatches from the Post 9/11 Ideological Wars|last=McConnell|first=Scott|date=January 15, 2016|publisher=Algora Publishing| isbn=978-1628941951}}</ref>

<blockquote>Once Afghanistan has been dealt with, America should turn its attention to Iraq ... Once we have deposed [[Saddam Hussein|Saddam]], we can impose an American-led, international regency in [[Baghdad]], to go along with the one in [[Kabul]] ... It is a matter of self-defense: [Saddam] is currently working to acquire [[weapons of mass destruction]] that he or his confederates will unleash against America ... To turn Iraq into a beacon of hope for the oppressed peoples of the Middle East ... This could be the chance to right the scales, to establish the first [[Arab democracy]], and to show the Arab people that America is committed to freedom for them.</blockquote>

Boot is a strong supporter of [[Israel]] and opposed the dismantling of [[Israeli settlement]]s in the occupied [[West Bank]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Gaza pullout to test belief that settlers at root of strife |url=https://www.deseret.com/2005/8/21/19907879/gaza-pullout-to-test-belief-that-settlers-at-root-of-strife |work=Deseret News |date=August 21, 2005}}</ref><ref name="boot-atlantic"/> He wrote in 2008 that "the reason Israelis aren't dismantling the settlements (and that [[George W. Bush|President Bush]] isn't pressing them to do so) has nothing to do with the views of American Jewish groups and everything to do with the dismal record of recent Israeli concessions in southern Lebanon and the [[Gaza Strip]]. In both cases (as well as at the [[Camp David]] negotiations in 2000) Israelis thought that territorial concessions would lead to peace. Instead they led to the empowerment of terrorists."<ref name="boot-atlantic">{{cite news |title=Max Boot, Palestinian?|first=Jeffrey|last=Goldberg |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2008/05/max-boot-palestinian/8337/ |work=The Atlantic |date=May 21, 2008}}</ref> In 2017 Boot supported President Trump's controversial decision to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem: "he got this one right. My only complaint is that this move is more symbolic than substantive".<ref>Max Boot, "[https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-boot-jerusalem-un-trump-20171222-story.html Trump is right about Jerusalem, but that's not the help Israel needs]", Los Angeles Times, December 22, 2017</ref> In January 2024, he criticized South Africa's [[South Africa v. Israel (Genocide Convention)|ICJ genocide case against Israel]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Boot |first1=Max |title=South Africa's false charges of Israeli "genocide" carry a heavy price |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/01/15/israel-south-africa-genocide-charge-unjustified/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 15, 2024}}</ref>

In 2011, Boot supported the [[NATO]]-led [[2011 military intervention in Libya|military intervention in Libya]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Obama's Step Forward on Libya |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303661904576451913355531024 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=July 19, 2011 |first1=Max |last1=Boot |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In 2015 and 2016, Boot was a campaign advisor to [[Marco Rubio]] for the [[2016 United States presidential election|2016 United States presidential primaries]]<ref>{{cite news |last=Norton |first=Ben |title=Hard-line right-wing war hawk Max Boot applauds Hillary Clinton in op-ed |url=https://www.salon.com/2016/05/09/hard_line_right_wing_war_hawk_max_boot_applauds_hillary_clinton_in_op_ed/ |work=Salon |date=9 May 2016 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Neiwert |first1=David|author-link=David Neiwert |title=Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump| title-link=Alt-America |date=2017 |publisher=[[Verso Books]] |location=Brooklyn, NY |isbn=9781786634238 |page=362}}</ref> and strongly opposed [[Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016|Trump's 2016 presidential candidacy]].<ref name=LAT>{{Citation |url=http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-boot-republicans-in-exile-20160508-story.html|title=The Republican Party is dead|last=Boot|first=Max|date=May 8, 2016|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=July 20, 2016}}</ref> Boot said in March 2016 that he would "sooner vote for [[Josef Stalin]] than he would vote for [[Donald Trump]]".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Burns |first=Alex |date=March 2, 2016 |title=Anti-Trump Republicans Call for a Third-Party Option |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/03/us/politics/anti-donald-trump-republicans-call-for-a-third-party-option.html |access-date=October 17, 2018}}</ref> In August 2016, after Trump won the presidential nomination, he became highly critical of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]<ref>{{Citation |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/01/opinion/how-the-stupid-party-created-donald-trump.html|title=How the stupid party created Donald Trump|last=Boot|first=Max|date=August 1, 2016|work=The New York Times|access-date=December 19, 2016}}</ref> and endorsed [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] candidate [[Hillary Clinton]] in the [[2016 U.S. presidential election]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/30/heres-the-growing-list-of-big-name-republicans-supporting-hillary-clinton/ |title=78 Republican politicians, donors and officials who are supporting Hillary Clinton |first=Aaron |last=Blake |date=November 7, 2016 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=January 20, 2019 }}</ref> Boot was critical of the nomination of [[Rex Tillerson]] to the position of [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]], believing him to be problematically pro-Russian, and subsequently called on Tillerson to resign.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/23/time-is-up-on-rex-tillerson/ |work=[[Foreign Policy]] |quote=Having proved a failure at every aspect of being secretary of state, he should do the country a favor and resign. |first=Max |last=Boot |date=August 23, 2017 |title=Time Is Up on Rex Tillerson |access-date=August 25, 2017}}</ref>

In an opinion piece for ''[[Foreign Policy]]'' in September 2017, Boot outlined his political views as follows: "I am [[socially liberal]]: I am pro-[[gay rights|LGBTQ rights]], [[pro-abortion]] rights, pro-immigration. I am [[fiscally conservative]]: I think we need to reduce the [[deficit spending|deficit]] and get [[entitlement spending]] under control. I am [[environmentalism|pro-environment]]: I think that [[climate change]] is a major threat that we need to address. I am pro-[[free trade]]: I think we should be concluding new trade treaties rather than pulling out of old ones. I am strong on defense: I think we need to beef up our military to cope with multiple enemies. And I am very much in favor of America acting as a world leader: I believe it is in our own self-interest to promote and defend freedom and [[free market]]s as we have been doing in one form or another since at least 1898."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/09/20/i-would-vote-for-a-sane-donald-trump/|title=I Would Vote for (a Sane) Donald Trump|first=Max|last=Boot|work=[[Foreign Policy]]|date=September 20, 2017|access-date=August 7, 2021}}</ref>

In December 2017, also in ''Foreign Policy'', Boot wrote that recent events—particularly since the 2016 election of Donald Trump as president—had caused him to rethink some of his previous views concerning the existence of [[white privilege]] and [[male privilege]]. "In the last few years, in particular, it has become impossible for me to deny the reality of discrimination, harassment, even violence that [[people of color]] and women continue to experience in modern-day America from a power structure that remains for the most part in the hands of straight, white males. People like me, in other words. Whether I realize it or not, I have benefited from my skin color and my gender—and those of a different gender or sexuality or skin color have suffered because of it."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/12/27/2017-was-the-year-i-learned-about-my-white-privilege/ |title=2017 Was the Year I Learned About My White Privilege |first=Max |last=Boot |date=December 27, 2017 |work=[[Foreign Policy]] |access-date=December 28, 2017 }}</ref>

Boot is a member of the advisory board of [[Renew Democracy Initiative]], a non-partisan organization founded in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rdi.org/our-team/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241213145952/https://rdi.org/our-team/|archive-date=2024-12-13|access-date=2024-12-13|url-status=live|title=Our Team - RDI|publisher=[[Renew Democracy Initiative]]}}</ref>

In March 2019, Boot proposed to retire the [[neoconservative]] label, saying that the term "neocon thinking" is falsely associated with the advocacy of the United States invasion and occupation of Iraq:<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/its-time-to-retire-the-neocon-label/2019/03/13/11cc2714-45a2-11e9-aaf8-4512a6fe3439_story.html|title=It's time to retire the 'neocon' label|last=Boot|first=Max|date=March 14, 2019|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/max-boot-wants-to-retire-neocon-label-why-doesnt-he-stop-using-isolationist|title=Max Boot wants to retire 'neocon' label. Why doesn't he stop using 'isolationist?'|last=Hunter|first=Jack|date=March 15, 2019|work=The Washington Examiner}}</ref>

<blockquote>The misuse of the "neocon" label reached an absurd extreme in a Post op-ed by Rep. [[Ro Khanna]] (D-Calif.), [who wrote:] "I have been consistent of talking about the neocon thinking that led to the Iraq blunder and what followed." That actually isn't much of an improvement, because Khanna is repeating the canard that neocons were responsible for the Iraq War.</blockquote>

Boot is a proponent of [[perpetual war|perpetual deployment]]:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/why-winning-and-losing-are-irrelevant-in-syria-and-afghanistan/|title=Why winning and losing are irrelevant in Syria and Afghanistan|last=Boot|first=Max|date=January 30, 2019|work=Seattle Times}}</ref>

<blockquote> We need to think of these deployments [in Afghanistan and Syria] in much the same way we thought of our [[Indian Wars]], which lasted roughly 300 years (ca. 1600-1890), or as the British thought about their deployment on the [[Military history of the North-West Frontier|North West Frontier]] (today's [[Pakistan-Afghanistan border]]), which lasted 100 years (1840s-1940s). U.S. troops are not undertaking a conventional combat assignment. They are policing the frontiers of the [[Pax Americana]].</blockquote>

In 2018 he argued for the United States to help the [[Syrian Democratic Forces]] establish an 'autonomous zone' in Syria as "this would protect at least a portion of Syrian territory from Russian and Iranian domination and give the United States a strong say in that country's future.<ref>Max Boot, "[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/04/02/trump-is-about-to-squander-our-gains-against-the-islamic-state/ Trump might give Iran an incalculable windfall]", ''Washington Post'', April 2, 2018.</ref>

Boot has suggested that if conservative television news channels—[[Fox News Channel]], [[One America News]] and [[Newsmax]]—do not "stop propagating lies", "large [[cable companies]] such as [[Comcast]] and [[Spectrum (TV service)|Charter Spectrum]] need to step in" and "boot" them off, dealing with them "just as we do with foreign [[terrorist group]]s".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/18/trump-couldnt-have-incited-sedition-without-help-fox-news/|title=Trump couldn't have incited sedition without the help of Fox News|last=Boot|first=Max|date=January 18, 2021|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

[[Mark Ames]] of ''[[The Nation]]'',<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/das-boot-unsinkable-warmonger/|title=Das Boot: The Unsinkable Warmonger|last=Ames|first=Mark|date=February 26, 2009|magazine=The Nation|access-date=February 15, 2019|archive-date=April 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430161659/https://www.thenation.com/article/das-boot-unsinkable-warmonger/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Adam Johnson of [[Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fair.org/home/another-warmonger-rewarded-for-being-wrong-on-iraq-war/|title=Another Warmonger Rewarded for Being Wrong on Iraq War|last=Johnson|first=Adam|date=February 1, 2018|website=Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting}}</ref> [[Tucker Carlson]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/why-are-these-professional-war-peddlers-still-around-tucker-carlson-max-boot-bill-kristol/|title=Why Are These Professional War Peddlers Still Around?|last=Carlson|first=Tucker|date=February 15, 2019|work=The American Conservative}}</ref> and [[Glenn Greenwald]]<ref>{{cite tweet|user=ggreenwald|number=1423754892682932224|title=Max Boot works for a newspaper that won a Pulitzer Prize for publishing the top secret documents provided by Edward Snowden. Snowden has done more good for the world than fanatical cowardly warmonger @MaxBoot could accomplish in 1,000 lifetimes. Enjoy your neocons, Dems.|date=August 6, 2021}}</ref> have denounced Boot as a "warmonger".

Boot has argued in favor of increased [[content moderation]] of [[social media]]. When [[Elon Musk]] proposed to [[Acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk|acquire Twitter]], Boot said that he was "frightened by the impact on society and politics" and asserted that "[f]or democracy to survive, we need more content moderation, not less."<ref name="BootFear">{{Cite news |last=Mastrangelo |first=Dominick |date=2022-04-14 |title=Washington Post columnist 'frightened' by prospect of Elon Musk buying Twitter |language=en-US |work=The Hill |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/3267291-washington-post-columnist-frightened-by-prospect-of-elon-musk-buying-twitter/ |access-date=2023-01-22}}</ref><ref name="BootMuskLast">{{Cite news |last=Boot |first=Max |date=2022-04-14 |title=Elon Musk is the last person who should take over Twitter |language=en-US |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/04/14/elon-musk-should-be-last-person-twitter-hostile-takeover/ |access-date=2023-01-22 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==

* ''Reagan: His Life and Legend'' (Liveright Publishing Corporation/W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2024), {{ISBN|978-0-87140-944-7}}
* ''The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I Left the Right''. [https://books.google.com/books?id=i69gDwAAQBAJ Description] & [https://books.google.com/books?id=i69gDwAAQBAJ arrow/scrollable preview.] (Liveright Publishing Corporation/W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2018), {{ISBN|9-781-63149-5670}}
* ''The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam'' (Liveright Publishing Corporation/W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2018), {{ISBN|0-871-40941-0}}
* ''Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present'' (Liveright, 2013), {{ISBN|0-87140-424-9}}
* ''War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History, 1500 to Today'' (Gotham Books, 2006), {{ISBN|1-59240-222-4}}
* ''The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power'' (Basic Books, 2002), {{ISBN|0-465-00721-X}}
* ''Out of Order: Arrogance, Corruption and Incompetence on the Bench'' (Basic Books, 1998), {{ISBN|0-465-05375-0}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.maxboot.net "MaxBoot.net"]
* [https://www.commentarymagazine.com/author/max-boot/ Articles] at ''[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]]''
* {{C-SPAN|31019}}
* [https://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/?s=max+boot] Live Debates for [[Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates]]

{{Neoconservatism}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Good article}}

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