Your foreign policy book recommendations

[idlisambar]

Would anybody like recommend a good book about America's relation to the world or international relations in general, fiction or non-fiction? State the book and your reason for choosing it.

Me first...

Endless Enemies -- Jonathan Kwitny

This book was written in 1983 and talks about U.S. cold war policies in third world. As the title suggests, it talks about how U.S. policies created enmity and ultimately undermined our own interests.

The author has personal experience in Africa, and the chapters profiling African nations are standouts. If you want to understand how Cold War politics, corporate power, the World Bank, the IMF, and corrupt dictatatorships all came (come) together -- read this book. This book was an eye-opener for me.

And if you suspect it is not as relevant today, just substitute "War on Terror" for "Cold War".

[durutti]

1. A good place to start...

Imperial Alibis by Stephen Shalom.

[yo-yo-ma]

2. Blowback

Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire. By Chalmers Johnson
“For any empire, including an unacknowledged one, there is a kind of balance sheet that builds up over time”.
Among the costs is what he terms blowback—“the unintended consequences of policies”.
And he traces the depth and breadth of our empire and the blowback of its expansion we are experiencing in the form of terrorism etc.

[reprehensor]

3. 'Dreaming War' and 'Pepetual War for Perpetual Peace' - Gore Vidal.

Great stuff.

[DUmbrella]

4. Of Paradise and Power

Paradise and Powere by Robert Kagan. It's about the U.S. and our changing relationship with Europe through the cold war until now. It changed my whole outlook on the world.

[reprehensor]

5. The Grand Chessboard - Brzezinski

He worked for Carter, but ultimately gave the Neocons the basis for their doubleplus evil plans.

[thelocalkgb]

6. Whether you agree with him or not

Michael Walzer's Just and Unjust Wars is a classic in IR theory.

Oh, and Disposable People by Kevin Bales is one of the most amazing books I've ever read.

[Violet_Crumble]

8. I haven't heard of Just and Unjust Wars...

When I think of classics, I think of Carr, Morgenthau, Waltz, and even back as far as Machiavelli. But I hate IR theory anyway :)


Violet...

[Violet_Crumble]

7. This one...

Rise to Globalism - American foreign policy since 1938 by Ambrose and Brinkley...

I only suggested it because it was the most readable book of those I had to read last semester, and I figure if I had to read it then everyone else should too :)


Violet...

[On the Road]

9. Noam Chomsky has a Bunch

The Fateful Triangle, on the middle east
After the Cataclysm, on Indochina
Year 501: The Conquest Continues, on Latin America

Lots of others, too. They're a shock to the system, since the viewpoint is so diametrically opposed to anything else you read in this country. I'm not sure I agree with all of his points. But they're incredibly well documented, often with quotes from the memoirs of the people involved in the decisions.