Track Chapter  Length
01 Chapter 1 - War Is A Racket 9:32
02 Chapter 2 - Who Makes The Profits? 15:40
03 Chapter 3 - Who Pays The Bills? 10:13
04 Chapter 4 - How To Smash This Racket! 7:49
05 Chapter 5 - To Hell With War! 6:08

Notes
Running Time: 50 minutes
Read by: D. S. Harvey
Book Producer: D. S. Harvey

Artwork
Cover: Having Their Fling by Art Young cartoon by Arthur Henry "Art" Young (1866–1943). First published in The Masses in September 1917, this drawing was brought into court as evidence during the second US government trial against The Masses in September/October 1918. 
Inset: Cover of original hardcover edition of "War Is A Racket".
Inset: Photo of double medal of honor recipient Smedley Butler, date unknown. USMC.
Insert: Cartoon in "Life" Magazine, March 10 1919 p. 349. Caption: Profiteer: THE WAR IS OVER, MY BOY. FORGET IT!

Recordings
These recordings were made using the author’s original published work, which is in the public domain. Reading ℗ 2016 by MP3 Audiobook Classics.



You can find digital download and streaming versions in most
online audiobook sellers.

24Symbols 3 Leaf Group Amazon/Audible
Anyplay Apple Apple Music
Audiobooks Now Audiobooks NZ Audiobooks.com
Audiomol Audioteka Baker & Taylor, Inc.
Barnes & Noble Beek Bibliotheca, LLC
BookBeat BookMate Calm Radio
Chirp Cliq Digital Deezer
Divibib Downpour EBSCO Information Services
eStories Follett Library Resources Google LLC
Grupo Vi-Da hibooks Hoopla
Hummingbird Media Instaread Kobo
Libro.FM ListenerU Mackin
Napster Nextory Nook
Odilo Overdrive Permabound
Scribd, Inc. Skoobe Spotify
StoryTel UBook Wheelers Book Club Limited
YouScribe YouTube Music

After his retirement from the Marine Corps in the early 1930's, General Smedley D. Butler embarked on a national lecture tour, where he gave his speech about how commercial interests benefit from war. The speech was well received and he wrote an expanded version of it, which was published as War Is A Racket. The work was published by Reader's Digest as a condensed book supplement, which added to its popularity.

The book consists of five chapters. The first chapter cites telling statistics: 21,000 people became millionaires and billionaires during the war; 4 million men served; the growth of national debt by a factor of 25 from 1898 to 1918. The second chapter details the level of profits made by many major U.S.  corporations made in the years preceding World War I and compares them to the significantly greater profits made from and during the war.  The third chapter lays bare the ways in which the costs are borne by the public, with particular focus on humiliating deductions from the pay of soldiers. Chapter four sets forth three simple methods to limit wars: insist that everyone in the war economy earn the same income as that of the soldiers;  conduct a vote to decide whether or not to go to war and limit the voters to those who would serve; limit appropriations and activities to strictly defensive measures. The final chapter shows the futility of arms limitations negotiations and makes it plain that only total disarmament will break the back of the beast.


Play sample:

Download a PDF datasheet


Item Info
EAN - DVD case 0683422135101
EAN - CD jacket 0687700170549
Media MP3 CD
Package DVD Case
Author General Smedley D. Butler (1881 - 1940)
Year 1935
Recording
Read by D. S. Harvey
Length 49 minutes
Type of Reading Solo

Write a review

Please login or register to review

War Is a Racket

  • $9.99


Available Options

(SKU DB-1189) (EAN 0683422135101 )
(SKU CJ-1189) (EAN 0687700170549)
(SKU CD-1189)
(SKU DL-1189)

Related Products

Other Peoples' Money and How The Bankers Use It

Other Peoples' Money and How The Bankers Use It

Other People’s Money and How the Bankers Use It is a collection of essays by Louis D. Brandeis that ..

$9.99

The Right to Privacy

The Right to Privacy

The Right to Privacy is an article that appeared in the Harvard Law Review December 15, 1890 that is..

$9.99

The Backwash of War

The Backwash of War

"The Backwash of War: The Human Wreckage of the Battlefield as Witnessed by an American Hospital Nur..

$7.99