The book was published as the first in The American Empire Series, edited for Metropolitan Books by Steve Fraser and Tom Engelhardt. The series had been devised as a vehicle for works of anti-imperialism that were critical of U.S. foreign policy. Engelhardt informed an interviewer that the series reflected their "counterinterventionary impulse" and represented an attempt to reclaim "the word" from the political right in the U.S.[9] They agreed to publish with Metropolitan because it was co-run by Engelhardt and Sara Bershtel.[9] In conjunction with the publication of the book, Chomsky answered a series of public questions on the website of The Washington Post.[10]