As Americans celebrate the 4th of July and the many events marking the 250th anniversary of creation of the United States, the country's founding ideals of liberty, democracy, and freedom are once again taking centre stage. But there's another story running through America's history - one not of peace interrupted by war, but of a nation shaped by almost continuous conflict. David Vine, Professor of Political Anthropology and author of the United States of War, argues that war has become deeply embedded not only in American foreign policy, but in its politics, economy, and national identity. So, as the US reflects on 250 years of independence, we ask whether the culture of perpetual war has become one of the defining features of the American experience. He joins Pat to discuss.