"War fills certain functions essential to the stability of our society; until other ways of filling them are developed, the war system must be maintained -- and improved in effectiveness." 

The author of these words was a 20th-century Jonathan Swift who worked with Victor Navasky to craft a document called Report From Iron Mountain. It is by turns corporate, Byzantine and weird.

Listen to Navasky, chairman of the Columbia Journalism Review, former editor of The Nation magazine and author of Naming Names, recall the stir that the "Report" caused in government and journalistic circle. Read the transcript. (Audio mp3 takes five minutes.)

This episode is part of Bookpod, a weekly podcast about writers of lasting value.