Compliments of John F'n I was in Vietnam Kerry.
Secretary of State
Yes!The Federalist Papers.
MAD COMICS! Hillary and the RESET BUTTON!
Looming Tower.
P.J. O'Rourke
The Politically Incorrect Guide series. They have books on everything from Islam to the Constitution to the Vietnam War to the Middle East.
I think you’d like The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Middle East.
The Gathering Storm, Churchill
Anything by Robert D. Kaplan but especially his book Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power
The Pentagon’s New Map by Thomas P.M. Barnett
Compliments of John F'n I was in Vietnam Kerry.
Secretary of State
;)
this one was popular on FR back in the 1990s:
http://www.amazon.com/Compromised-Clinton-Bush-Terry-Reed/dp/1561712493
Kissinger’s Diplomacy is a good book. Author is not a perfect person and often biased but I think it is still the best.
Rise and Fall of Great Powers; Clash of Civlization and the Remake of the New World Order; Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire; Grand Strategy of the Byzantine. All these books are not US foreign policy history, but its historical principles apply to what lead the US to today situation of over extension, bankruptcy and limitations of our military power despite having the largest DoD budget in the world and the most advanced military equipment/forces. Rise and Fall of Great Powers illustrate how past great powers rose and fell (history does not repeat exactly but it rhymes). US has followed this pattern and faces limits and possible decline. Second book destroys the neocon and liberal notion that everyone is like us. At some basic human level yes, but as societies conditioned by past experiences the answer is no. Jumping into wars assuming the individuals we are liberating is actually an American wanting to burst out has lead us into wrong decisions or worst disastrous nation building efforts that lead to naught. Or worst miscalculation of our adversaries as people we can placate with kindness and they will stop threatening us (ala Islam). The next two books on Rome and East Rome (Byzantine) actually is a good review on how empires full of hubris over extend, get into financial trouble and are forced to contract or fall. Rome failed to contract and it fell while its Eastern Rome (Byzantine) remained, badly weakened and surrounded by powerful enemies and was forced to adapt new strategies to survive 4 more centuries successfully. The Byzantine Empire may apply to the US today, financially constrained by debt and how it limits her ability to use military force and must adopt asymmetric counter measures to keep the threatening barbarians at bay.
We know what Obama read for inspiration. I do not recommend it!
Jack Singlelaub,”HAZARDOUS DUTY”,amazing,Diana West “American Betrayal”
You have to start with the article by George Kennan in Foreign Affairs. “X” (July 1947), “The Sources of Soviet Conduct”, Foreign Affairs 25 (4): 566–582, doi:10.2307/20030065, ISSN 0015-7120, JSTOR 20030065
This is the basis for U.S. foreign policy of ‘containment’ for generations during the Cold War including both Democratic and Republican administrations. Kennan wrote a number of books including a series on the relations between Russia and the U.S.