The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives

The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives is a book about the United States military, written by journalist Nick Turse. It was published in 2008 in hardcover format by Metropolitan Books. The book describes the vast changes in the industrial complex of the U.S. military from the days of President Dwight D. Eisenhower to 2008, its effect on American society, and how the military and private business spheres interact with each other. The book received positive reviews in Mother Jones and Inter Press Service, and critical reviews by Jeffrey St. Clair of CounterPunch, and in Kirkus Reviews.

Synopsis
The book explores how the industrial complex of the United States military has pervaded the everyday lives of Americans. Turse notes that the research and development budget of the military, and its spending in the private sector, has increased dramatically over the last few years. He investigates the relationship between the Pentagon and the Hollywood entertainment industry, military actions in the civilian sphere, and joint projects between the U.S. military and companies including NASCAR and Marvel Comics. Turse describes how military tacticians and flyers were outfitted with Apple PowerBooks. He illustrates how the military has attempted innovative methods to reach out to and recruit youth, including making "friends" on MySpace. The book describes the changes have occurred since President Dwight D. Eisenhower's military-industrial complex.

Reception
Kirkus Reviews recommended the book "For those who like their journalism fevered and their politics pat." Tom Engelhardt of Mother Jones magazine wrote, "It's an eye-opener on the degree to which we are, without realizing it, a militarized society." Engelhardt, who founded the blog for which Turse writes, called The Complex a "superb book". Jeffrey St. Clair of CounterPunch was critical, stating "This is a Bush-bashing book that maliciously elides the uncomfortable fact that many of the contractor scandals that penetrated the mainstream press in Bush-time were [sic] actually set in motion in the 1990s." Chris Barsanti of PopMatters gave the book a rating of 3 out of a possible 10, and wrote, "The Complex is an airless and rather pointless recitation of facts that feels cut-and-pasted rather than written."

Ali Gharib, reviewing the book for Inter Press Service, noted: "Turse's book carefully tracks the Defense Department's money trail to everything from traditional defense contractors to a handful of Southern catfish restaurants to Dunkin' Donuts." Victoria Segal of The Guardian commented, "Much of Turse's research holds the Pentagon up to ridicule: their golf courses, the fast-food-addicted army that waddles rather than marches on its stomach. Yet the book turns sinister when it exposes desperate recruiters who allow white supremacists to join up, or defence department plans to develop 'weaponised' moths and sharks. References to The Matrix could make Turse seem a paranoid geek. Unfortunately, this is no sci-fi fantasy." David Swanson of Political Affairs Magazine wrote, "Nick Turse has done something pretty amazing in producing an entertaining account of the almost limitless variety of ways in which our money is wasted by what he calls the military industrial technological entertainment academic media corporate matrix, or 'The Complex' for short".