Robert Kagan is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a columnist for The Washington Post. He is also the author of The Return of History and the End of Dreams, Dangerous Nation, Of Paradise and Power, and A Twilight Struggle. He served in the U.S. State Department from 1984 to 1988. He lives with his wife and two children.
“At once a robust defense of the role America plays in world
affairs and a determined rejection of the ‘myth’ that America is in
decline.”
—Financial Times
“Kagan’s writing bristles with insights and ideas.”
—Foreign Affairs
“An extended and convincing argument against the thesis that there
is anything inevitable about American decline.”
—Commentary
“Accessible, thought-provoking and extraordinary. . . . Robert
Kagan has both the foreign policy credentials and political street
cred to know from whence he speaks. . . . A book about such a grand
topic as global strategy runs two risks. First is making definitive
assertions in the face of enormous complexity. . . . The second is
imparting too much meaning from historical events. . . . However,
Mr. Kagan avoids both traps. He skillfully reasons from a wide
breadth of compelling facts that from the end of World War II to
today, for better (he believes) or worse, and often with great
ambivalence, America has raised the living standards of the world
while helping democracy grow and flourish and the democratic world
should and will likely want to keep it that way.”
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“The book makes the case that the nation’s decline is a myth, a
reaction to the financial crisis of 2008 rather than to any genuine
geopolitical shifts.”
—The New York Times
“These ideas struck a chord with a President accused of leading a
great American retreat.”
—TIME
“Kagan grabs the reader’s attention from page one. . . . Kagan
makes a powerful point: If America were to make a serious effort to
disengage in world affairs, the world quickly would devolve into a
much more scary and dangerous place.”
—The Augusta Chronicle
“[Kagan] seems to care less about partisanship than about ideas,
particularly his advocacy for a powerful American role in the
world. . . . The virtue of Kagan’s book is that his ideas and logic
are so clearly laid out that readers can see where they agree or
disagree.”
—The Washington Post
“Kagan paints with a broad brush, sprinkling a memorable metaphor
here, a striking simile there . . . He provides a compelling
demonstration that whether it’s protecting the sea lanes vital for
free trade or nudging societies toward democracy, the world stands
a better chance with America in prime position than with China or
Russia in the lead.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“[Marco] Rubio’s foreign-policy views have evidently been recently
shaped by a reading of Robert Kagan’s The World America Made, a
much-discussed refutation of the now-popular notion of American
decline. As a Romney advisor who has penned bedside reading for
President Barack Obama, Kagan could plausibly claim to be the most
prominently cited writer in Washington right now.”
—Foreign Policy Magazine
“Intelligent, cogent, and timely.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Serious, scholarly . . . [These are] ideas expressed clearly and
consicely.”
—David Ignatius, Washington Post Writers Group
“The foreign policy blueprint for the next Republican
president.”
—Senator Marco Rubio
“Kagan grabs the reader’s attention from page one . . . He makes a
powerful point: If America were to make a serious effort to
disengage in world affairs, the world quickly would devolve into a
much more scary and dangerous place . . . If you have time to read
just one book, I suggest Kagan’s.”
—Major General Perry Smith
“Magisterial . . . It’s a small book, it’s a great book.”
—Bill Bennett
“Very important . . . A wonderful book.”
—Hugh Hewitt
“A must-read.”
—Lou Dobbs
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