It’s Monday, What are You Reading? War on Peace

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? 

War on Peace:

The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence 

by Ronon Farrow

 

https://www.amazon.com/War-Peace-Diplomacy-American-Influence/dp/0007575629/

This post is the one-hundred and forty-second entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]

Have been interested in the changes at State Department and Embassies around the world. One set of answers is in this book.


Book Description from Amazon:

A harrowing exploration of the collapse of American diplomacy and the abdication of global leadership. "This is one of the most important books of our time." Walter Isaacson US foreign policy is undergoing a dire transformation, forever changing America's place in the world. Institutions of diplomacy and development are bleeding out after deep budget cuts; the diplomats who make America's deals and protect democratic interests around the world are walking out in droves. Offices across the State Department sit empty, while abroad the military-industrial complex has assumed the work once undertaken by peacemakers. Increasingly, America is a nation that shoots first and asks questions later. In an astonishing journey from the corridors of power in Washington, DC, to some of the most remote and dangerous places on earth - Afghanistan, Somalia, and North Korea among them acclaimed investigative journalist Ronan Farrow illuminates one of the most consequential and poorly understood changes in American history. His first-hand experience as a former State Department official affords a personal look at some of the last standard bearers of traditional statecraft, including Richard Holbrooke, who made peace in Bosnia and died while trying to do so in Afghanistan. Drawing on newly unearthed documents, and richly informed by rare interviews with warlords, whistle-blowers, and policymakers - including every living secretary of state from Henry Kissinger to Hillary Clinton to Rex Tillerson - War on Peace makes a powerful case for an endangered profession. Diplomacy, Farrow argues, has declined after decades of political cowardice, short-sightedness, and outright malice - but it may just offer a way out of a world at war.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? A Higher Loyalty

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? 

A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership 

by James Comey

 

https://www.amazon.com/Higher-Loyalty-Truth-Lies-Leadership/dp/1250192455/

This post is the one-hundred and forty-first entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]
 

Wasn’t going to read this, but when my wife got it, I could not pass it up. So happy for that. Very important that anyone who cares about “this matter” actually read this book…it is not very long, clear through. Reading the book is much more instructive of Comey than any TV news snippets, left or right. You really need to read it yourself. It is a text on ethical leadership, by the way. Excellent literary piece, but very readable.

Book Description from Amazon:

In his book, former FBI director James Comey shares his never-before-told experiences from some of the highest-stakes situations of his career in the past two decades of American government, exploring what good, ethical leadership looks like, and how it drives sound decisions. His journey provides an unprecedented entry into the corridors of power, and a remarkable lesson in what makes an effective leader.
Mr. Comey served as director of the FBI from 2013 to 2017, appointed to the post by President Barack Obama. He previously served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and the U.S. deputy attorney general in the administration of President George W. Bush. From prosecuting the Mafia and Martha Stewart to helping change the Bush administration's policies on torture and electronic surveillance, overseeing the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation as well as ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, Comey has been involved in some of the most consequential cases and policies of recent history.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? The Age of Eisenhower

It’s Monday, What are You Reading?

The Age of Eisenhower: 

America and the World in the 1950s

by William I. Hitchcock

 

https://www.amazon.com/Age-Eisenhower-America-World-1950s/dp/1439175667/

This post is the one-hundred and fortieth entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]


As I finished up the large biography of General and President U.S. Grant, I was most pleased to see this new presidential biography appear. It covers my high school and undergraduate college years. I am most interested to see what it has to say, on several levels! ;-)


Book Description from Amazon:

“A page-turner masterpiece.” – Jim Lehrer

In a 2017 survey, presidential historians ranked Dwight D. Eisenhower fifth on the list of great presidents, behind the perennial top four: Lincoln, Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Teddy Roosevelt. Historian William Hitchcock shows that this high ranking is justified. Eisenhower’s accomplishments were enormous, and loom ever larger from the vantage point of our own tumultuous times.

A former general, Ike kept the peace: he ended the Korean War, avoided a war in Vietnam, adroitly managed a potential confrontation with China, and soothed relations with the Soviet Union after Stalin’s death. He guided the Republican Party to embrace central aspects of the New Deal like Social Security. He thwarted the demagoguery of McCarthy and he advanced the agenda of civil rights for African Americans. As part of his strategy to wage, and win, the Cold War, Eisenhower expanded American military power, built a fearsome nuclear arsenal and launched the space race. In his famous Farewell Address, he acknowledged that Americans needed such weapons in order to keep global peace—but he also admonished his citizens to remain alert to the potentially harmful influence of the “military-industrial complex.”

From 1953 to 1961, no one dominated the world stage as did President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Age of Eisenhower is the definitive account of this presidency, drawing extensively on declassified material from the Eisenhower Library, the CIA and Defense Department, and troves of unpublished documents. In his masterful account, Hitchcock shows how Ike shaped modern America, and he astutely assesses Eisenhower’s close confidants, from Attorney General Brownell to Secretary of State Dulles. The result is an eye-opening reevaluation that explains why this “do-nothing” president is rightly regarded as one of the best leaders our country has ever had.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)