I never imagined I would become an academic, much less an historian. In high school, in west Los Angeles back in the 1960s, I hated history. I did everything possible to avoid taking history classes—I took any classes that would substitute for history. But I didn’t have much academic focus. I was a beach bum…
Category: Essays
H-Diplo | RJISSF Review Essay 118: Athar on Kuzmarov, Warmonger
As conflict continues to escalate in the Middle East and Africa, with the United States playing a key role especially in the Middle East, scholars and the public often wonder what led to this situation. In a number of recently published works on the trajectory of United States foreign policy over several decades, historians of…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Review Essay 117: Miller on Fink, Undoing the Liberal World Order
What went wrong? The liberal international order had such promise. It began with the noblest of intentions, to establish a new era of peace on the bedrock of human dignity. After the wreckage of the World Wars there seemed little alternative. Spheres of influence, power balancing, empire: all had had their day and been found…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Review Essay 116: Preble on Brands, ed., The New Makers of Modern Strategy
In the 45th and final chapter of The New Makers of Modern Strategy, John Lewis Gaddis notes that the first Makers of Modern Strategy “edited by Edward Mead Earle, came out in 1943, two years before the militarily foreseeable end of an era of ‘world’ wars that had begun twenty-nine years earlier. The second, under…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Review Essay 115: Lim on Han, The Ripple Effect
One of the major strengths of The Ripple Effect is its context-sensitive deliberation on the multifaceted nature of China’s presence in primarily the Mekong states of Southeast Asia. Unlike other works that focus solely on, say, economics or politics, the book weaves together a broad spectrum of influences, encompassing economic ties, cultural diplomacy, geopolitical maneuvering,…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Review Essay 114: James on Gavin, The Taming of Scarcity and the Problems of Plenty
With The Taming of Scarcity and the Problems of Plenty: Rethinking International Relations and American Grand Strategy in a New Era, Francis Gavin has written an elegant and thought-provoking extended essay on the challenges facing the modern world, offering reflections on how to formulate an adequate grand strategy for not only the US, but also…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Review Essay 113: Friend on Freedman, Command
It is hard to know where to start in reviewing a book like Command: The Politics of Military Operations from Korea to Ukraine, Sir Lawrence Freedman’s most recent capacious history of a military phenomenon. In previous work, Freedman has tackled strategy and nuclear deterrence—pretty much all of both.[1] Here, he sets out to examine “the…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Review Essay 112: Ouyang on Prasch, The World is Our Stage
Political observers and the public alike now take as given that American presidents are active participants and policymakers on the global stage. Indeed, as Allison Prasch states, “US presidents have used their rhetorical appeals to exert power, extend influence, persuade audiences to adopt a specific view of the world, and rally the citizenry around a…
Learning the Scholar’s Craft: “Stumbling Into Scholarship from Peace Advocacy”
I am still in the process of embracing the idea that I am a scholar. That is why I was surprised at first when I received the kind invitation to share this essay for H-Diplo’s essay series on “Learning the Scholars’ Craft.” From my perspective, when others recount their lives and careers, they often seem…
H-Diplo | RJISSF Essay 602: Dijn on Learning the Scholar’s Craft
I grew up in Western Europe in the 1990s, during a time proclaimed to be the “end of history.”[1] One of my early memories is of seeing the Berlin Wall come down on TV. I was twelve. When I went to university in 1995, the economy was booming, and liberal democracy went unquestioned. Indeed, so…