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This aspect of the President’s war-making is why Edmund Wilson impatiently compared Lincoln to Bismarck—both seen as iron-hearted nationalists who taught their people to die for the idea of national greatness.

Frank Norris’ 1901 novel about the California railroads described the robber barons’ monopoly as “the leviathan, with tentacles of steel clutching into the soil, the soulless Force, the iron-hearted Power, the monster, the Colossus, the Octopus.”

Barnhill — whose previous books include “The Mostly True Story of Jack” and “Iron-Hearted Violet” — is an eloquent writer who spins beautiful lines.

One of the many admirable things about this novel is that Theroux's affection for the country never slackens, even as he savages the lies, theft and thuggery of local leaders, and the iron-hearted do-goodery of foreign aid agencies, which have rendered those who were once poor but viable poorer, unhappier and more dependent than ever.

The book dropped from my hand as I read this dreadful story, and I regretted my relation to a race of beings, capable of such iron-hearted cruelty and infernal guilt.