Strobe Talbott is president of the Brookings Institution. He was founding director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and Deputy Secretary of State from 1994 to 2001. He was Washington bureau chief and foreign policy columnist for Time, and a regular panelist on Inside Washington. He has written for The New York Times, the Financial Times, Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New Yorker.
"The Great Experiment is a magisterial work -- a rare combination
of sweeping historical narrative with personal insight, wisdom, and
analytic brilliance. It should be a call to action for leaders at
the highest level." -- Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of
Rivals
"A book of stunning breadth, analyzing past efforts at transcending
isolation and conflict and explaining the inescapable need for
global cooperation. A fast-moving survey, elegantly accessible with
illuminating autobiographical touches. A rare feat for a large
public." -- Fritz Stern, author of Five Germanys I Have Known
"A crucially important book for our times and the debate on how to
deal with challenges ranging from climate change to terrorism to
pandemics." -- Dennis Ross, author of Statecraft: And How to
Restore America's Standing in the World
"Americans should read this narrative -- part history, part memoir
-- and hope for a day when its author will once again be in a
position to help restore his country's fortunes." -- Tony Judt,
author of Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
"Both a witness to history and a shaper of it, Talbott has written
a vivid and vital reckoning of what we need to manage and contain
global threats." -- Samantha Power, author of A Problem from Hell:
America and the Age of Genocide
"With the sweep of a historian and the sure hand of a man who has
been in the arena, Strobe Talbott has given us a brilliant,
provocative, and thoughtful book about the most important questions
of our time." -- Jon Meacham, author of Franklin and Winston and
American Gospel
Talbott, deputy secretary of state in the Clinton administration, makes an eloquent but predictable appeal for progress toward "global governance" under the auspices of the United Nations, which he sees as humanity's destined path since tribes began forming states, and since states have sought an alternative to international anarchy. The major obstacle to the new order, according to Talbott (Engaging India), is the United States, whose massive power and individualist principles encourage its citizens to regard limiting national authority as unnatural. In the face of cultural resistance, however, presidents from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton regarded some form of world authority as both a natural development in a nuclear era and a useful element of U.S. foreign policy. The villain of the piece, not surprisingly, is George W. Bush, who Talbott claims asserted America's right to make and enforce rules for other nations, rejected facts that did not support his preconceptions and ignored advice from more experienced foreign-policy hands. The resulting havoc wrought by "triumphalism" and "evangelism," according to the author, will require the careful attention of wiser, more temperate people, presumably in a Democratic administration. While the roots of Talbott's argument run deep, it echoes so much conventional wisdom on the subject that its impact is likely to be minimal. (Jan.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
"The Great Experiment is a magisterial work -- a rare
combination of sweeping historical narrative with personal insight,
wisdom, and analytic brilliance. It should be a call to action for
leaders at the highest level." -- Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of
Team of Rivals
"A book of stunning breadth, analyzing past efforts at transcending
isolation and conflict and explaining the inescapable need for
global cooperation. A fast-moving survey, elegantly accessible with
illuminating autobiographical touches. A rare feat for a large
public." -- Fritz Stern, author of Five Germanys I Have
Known
"A crucially important book for our times and the debate on how to
deal with challenges ranging from climate change to terrorism to
pandemics." -- Dennis Ross, author of Statecraft: And How to
Restore America's Standing in the World
"Americans should read this narrative -- part history, part memoir
-- and hope for a day when its author will once again be in a
position to help restore his country's fortunes." -- Tony Judt,
author of Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
"Both a witness to history and a shaper of it, Talbott has written
a vivid and vital reckoning of what we need to manage and contain
global threats." -- Samantha Power, author of A Problem from
Hell: America and the Age of Genocide
"With the sweep of a historian and the sure hand of a man who has
been in the arena, Strobe Talbott has given us a brilliant,
provocative, and thoughtful book about the most important questions
of our time." -- Jon Meacham, author of Franklin and Winston
and American Gospel
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