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Best International Diplomacy

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power
Deemed "the best history of oil ever written" by Business Week and with more than 300,000 copies in print, Daniel Yergin’s Pulitzer Prize–winning account of the global pursuit of oil, money, and power has been extensively updated to address the current energy crisis. Following on from there, The Prize , winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, is a comprehensive history of one of the commodities that powers the world--oil. Energy consultant Yergin limns oil's central role in most of the wars and many international crises of the 20th century.
Reviews
"It focuses on the effects of oil on the economies of both consuming and producing nations as well how access to oil affects the political power of nations."
"It makes no sense to export a precious finite resource, and it makes a lot of sense to use our enemy's supply first."
"This is the third copy of this book that I have purchased."
"The sentiments of various people and groups towards oil (good or bad) were negligible in the book which gave it almost a sterile feel. I now have a much stronger understanding of just how oil plays its enormous role in the global society. I can't say enough about how well this book informs its reader in an enjoyable and insightful way. It may at points be dry material, but in no way did i feel like this book was written over my head."
"Although concentrated on the oil industry, this book is really an incredible history of the twentieth century, which makes a lot of sense considering the paramount of oil to that era and now."
"This is a long book, but if you want to write a comprehensive story of oil and its impact on the economy spanning more than a century, it's going to be long."
"This is one of the best histories of the Oil Business."
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Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East (ALA Notable Books for Adults)
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY New York Times • Christian Science Monitor • NPR • Seattle Times • St. Louis Dispatch National Book Critics Circle Finalist -- American Library Association Notable Book. A thrilling and revelatory narrative of one of the most epic and consequential periods in 20th century history – the Arab Revolt and the secret “great game” to control the Middle East. The Arab Revolt against the Turks in World War One was, in the words of T.E. Sweeping in its action, keen in its portraiture, acid in its condemnation of the destruction wrought by European colonial plots, this is a book that brilliantly captures the way in which the folly of the past creates the anguish of the present. During World War I, the course of the modern day Middle East was set by a handful of young, low-ranking actors who exerted oversized influence on the region. But there is no filler here: this is the kind of detail that causes the narrative to pop, that makes it live and breathe, and it will keep you reading long into the night. Accordingly, Anderson embeds Lawrence and Seven Pillars in the wider context of the Arab revolt against Turkey, and that context is the British, French, German, and American diplomacy and espionage intended to influence the postwar disposition of the territories of the Ottoman Empire.
Reviews
"Quotes and concerns about cultural groups and religious factions are eerily current even though they were made over 100 years ago. Specifically, World War I in the Middle East and to a lesser degree the restructuring of the area at the Paris Peace Talks. An example, the German diplomat and spy, Curt Pruefer was diagnosed with scurvy while traveling through Syria during the war because of a vitamin C deficiency. Interesting, but not always directly in line with the purpose of the story and the shear number of historical facts extends the length of the book."
"This covers many of the competing interests in this area - focusing on the era of WWI in the lands of the Middle East controlled then by the Ottoman Empire (the lands divided up at the end of WWI by the Picot-Sykes map)."
"It is hard to believe how young those characters are in this detailed book about so much more than just Lawrence. It read like a reference book with so much meat. After you read this book, you should rent the movie so famously portrayed by Peter O'Toole."
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Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World
And yet, when it comes to geo-politics, much of what we are told is generated by analysts and other experts who have neglected to refer to a map of the place in question. In “one of the best books about geopolitics” ( The Evening Standard ), now updated to include 2016 geopolitical developments, journalist Tim Marshall examines Russia, China, the US, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Japan, Korea, and Greenland and the Arctic—their weather, seas, mountains, rivers, deserts, and borders—to provide a context often missing from our political reportage: how the physical characteristics of these countries affect their strengths and vulnerabilities and the decisions made by their leaders. “This is not a book about environmental determinism – the geography of aregion is never presented as fatalistic; but it does send a timely reminderthat despite technological advances, geography is always there, often forcingthe hand of world leaders.” (Geographical Magazine). The chapter on the Arctic is precise and informative ...A very lively, sensible and informative series of country reports in which geography occupies its rightful place along with shrewd historical reminders and political judgments." "Marshall's insistence on seeing the world through the lens of geography compels a fresh way of looking at maps—not just as objects for orientation or works of art, but as guideposts to the often thorny relations between nations.” (New York Times Book Review). He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps that Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics and A Flag Worth Dying For .
Reviews
"Buy the book, and buy a good world atlas with historic maps. This would be a great framework to lead into so many history classes, or a lead into a curriculum in our school systems."
"The author discusses how the geography of Russia has defined recent events in the Ukraine and how China's energy trade make the South and East China Seas of critical national importance. It is usually subordinated these days to the narratives of the time but in Prisoners of Geography the author spells out how it is geography that defines national interest and creates the conditions for conflict."
"Outstanding book recommended by a friend."
"The author neatly ties together geographical facts, historical facts and current events."
"The author zooms out and paints a broad picture to provide historical and cultural 3D depth to the daily news drumbeat."
"This book was very informative."
"Everyone should read this, very informative."
"Amazing way to look at how geography shapes a country's development."
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Best Human Geography

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Societies that had had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed religion --as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war --and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. Most of this work deals with non-Europeans, but Diamond's thesis sheds light on why Western civilization became hegemonic: "History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves."
Reviews
"Two decades ago a UCLA geography professor named Jared Diamond published Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. Diamond hypothesized that the arc of human history was dramatically shifted by geographic, environmental, biological, and other factors, resulting in the worldwide dominance of the leading industrial powers during the past 500 years. “Why did wealth and power [among nations] become distributed as they now are, rather than in some other way?” “[W]hy did human development proceed at such different rates on different continents?” “[W]hy were Europeans, rather than Africans or Native Americans, the ones to end up with guns, the nastiest germs, and steel?” In his award-winning book, Diamond posited a “unified synthesis”—a unified field theory of history. Drawing from his wide-ranging knowledge of medicine, evolutionary biology, physiology, linguistics, and anthropology as well as geography, he surveyed the history of the past 13,000 years and identified plausible answers to the questions he had posed. For example, geographers complained that Diamond referred to Eurasia as a single continent rather than separately to Asia, North Africa, and Europe. There were complaints that Diamond had overlooked the contrast between temperate and tropical zones (he didn’t) and that he had only explained what happened 500 years ago but not subsequently (untrue). However, regardless of the sequence, that shift from hunter-gatherer society to agriculturally based settlements set in motion the course of events that have led to the “civilization” in which we live. Furthermore, he explains that the east-west orientation of Eurasia from the Bering Strait to the Atlantic Ocean made it possible for the development of agriculture and animal husbandry to spread quickly to distant lands. This, in turn, spelled the emergence of labor specialization and eventually the growth of empires as well as the appearance and spread of communicable diseases contracted from domesticated animals."
"very interesting book if you are into deep history and anthropology."
"As an islander living in a Caribbean Island devoid of native indigenous ancestors and the oldest active colony, I've always had the yearning for context and understanding."
"The book's Pulitzer Prize is well-deserved, and it's little surprise that other books consistently reference "Guns, Germs, and Steel" as an authority."
"Ultimately, this book is a long and ingenius answer to a single question: "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brougt it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?""
"I throughly enjoyed this book and found it a very intriguing read with logical and non-stereotypical explanations of why/how some societies have succeeded, while others have failed."
"a classic!"
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Best History of Greece

Adults in the Room: My Battle with the European and American Deep Establishment
He consults and quarrels with Barack Obama, Emmanuel Macron, Christine Lagarde, the economists Larry Summers and Jeffrey Sachs, and others, as he struggles to resolve Greece’s debt crisis without resorting to punishing austerity measures. "Timely, fascinating and important" -- Evaggelos Vallianatos, Huffington Post. "Varoufakis’s account has the narrative drive of a rollicking detective novel .... very good, very readable, and ought to be on all the important “notable books of the year” lists." An extraordinary account of low cunning at the heart of Greece's 2015 financial bailout . [Varoufakis is] a motorcycling, leather jacketed former academic and self-styled rebel who took pleasure in winding up the besuited political class . ―John Kampfner, The Guardian " Adults in the Room is a book that anyone interested in modern European politics should read. It is a devastating indictment of [the] current state of Europe and a fascinating inside account of the logic of reformist politics and its limits and why it keeps going anyway . He delivers a truly shocking anatomy of an apparatus bent on perpetuating its own bad logic and excluding alternatives." ―Adam Tooze, Shelby Cullom Davis Chair of History and Director of the European Institute at Columbia University, and author of The Deluge. Yanis Varoufakis is the former finance minister of Greece and the cofounder of an international grassroots movement, DiEM25, that is campaigning for the revival of democracy in Europe. After teaching for many years in the United States, Britain, and Australia, he is currently a professor of economics at the University of Athens.
Reviews
"It is a work that people will turn to when they try to understand what on earth happened during our time: a riveting, compelling history of a critical act in the self-inflicted decay of European civilisation. On its own this was not significant, but as he explains in the book, it would in turn have triggered a cascade of defaults that would have undone Mario Dragi's program of Quantitative Easing. If he had, he could have forced the Troika to work with Greece on a sensible program, rather than watch them impose one which will lead to Greece becoming Europe's Somalia."
"Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis (boy, does that title ever feel inadequate given the impact he had and has!). Varoufakis is not unkind or unsympathetic to him - which should come as a big surprise to anyone who bought into the mainstream media reporting of the time, which often presented the 2015 negotiations as a cock fight between Varoufakis and Schäuble. But the mainstream media were/are not uninvolved in the Greek crisis, they have a role to play, too, in a system that, like the Soviet Union in the late 80s, will deny basic economic and political truths and pretend that all is well until the very moment of its collapse."
"The "I know I'm wrong but don't you dare say so" attitude, so forcefully portrayed and so minutely detailed in this book, is one of the reasons why larger and larger numbers of Europeans vote against what they regard as a lying, rotten, despotic establishment."
"It is a MUST READ to understand politics in Europe in the past ten years."
"A rare look at politics on a personal level, this book helps us outsiders see how things happen."
"Very well written book which explains a lot about what has happened to Greece and why."
"Excellent case of Truth telling!"
"Wonderful, very informational writing."
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Best International Relations

Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?
About the Peloponnesian War that devastated ancient Greece, the historian Thucydides explained: “It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable.” Over the past 500 years, these conditions have occurred sixteen times. Yet, stressing that war is not inevitable, Allison also reveals how clashing powers have kept the peace in the past — and what painful steps the United States and China must take to avoid disaster today. In Destined for War, Allison lays out one of the defining challenges of our time—managing the critical relationship between China and the United States.”—Joe Biden, former vice president of the United States. “Can the United States avoid confrontation with China? If Graham Allison is right—and I think he is—China and the United States must heed the lessons in this superb study in order to build a strategic relationship that avoids a war which neither side would win.”—General (Ret.). I can only hope that all senior policy experts read this timely book to prevent our country from falling into the trap Professor Allison so ably warns us against.”—Christopher Reich, best-selling author of Invasion of Privacy , The Patriots Club , and Numbered Account “Do China and America want war? GRAHAM ALLISON is director of Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the best-selling author of LeeKuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the World ; Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe ; and Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis .
Reviews
"Allison primarily frames the USA vs. China rivalry in the well-known paradigm of superpower rivalries going back to Athens vs. Sparta, Britain vs. {every European Empire + Russia + Japan + USA}, and finally the USA vs. the Soviet Union. The implication is that we should not allow ourselves to be drawn into war with China over petty incidents that are vital to China’s prestige, but not to ours. The USA and China have historically been in alliance against other expansionist powers, especially during WWII when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor after we demanded that the Japanese withdraw from their brutal conquest of China. Nevertheless, the possibility of war between the USA and China cannot be ignored. Allison outlines the scenarios of possible USA / China war: a conflict in the high seas around China that China claims as sovereign territory; a conflict over the trade imbalance; a declaration of independence by Taiwan; and of course a renewal of the conflict in Korea that could accidentally involve both the USA and China in a war neither wants. Allison makes no bones about China’s intentions: =====. China is ready to use the carrots and sticks of its economic power— buying, selling, sanctioning, investing, bribing, and stealing as needed until they fall into line....China enjoys such superiority in its balance of economic power that many other states have no realistic option but to comply with its wishes, even when the international system is on their side....The fact is that China’s economic network is spreading across the globe, altering the international balance of power in a way that causes even longtime US allies in Asia to tilt from the US toward China. =====. I thus learned more than I expected from the book. I would also recommend another book as a companion to this one, that portrays the USA / China relationship in more historical depth, and with a more positive spin: THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY (the USA is called "the beautiful country" by Chinese) AND THE MIDDLE KINGDOM (China) BY John Pomfret. My takeaway from both is: “We can manage our relations to China constructively so as to have a fascinating and prosperous future of mutual benefit to us ad all humanity; but only so long as we are very careful not to disrespect each other, underestimate each other, or do something stupid that will provoke a war, that does not need to be fought.”. Of course that idea is self-evident, but the books delve into the specific details of policy on HOW the vision of cordial relations and mutual prosperity between the USA and China can be achieved by both nations."
"It has fought in Korea and Vietnam and protected Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, and the sea lanes in the region. Allison picks sixteen similar examples of great power conflicts over the last 500 years, only four ended peacefully. America started to apply the Monroe Doctrine and regarded the Western Hemisphere as its backyard. Teddy Roosevelt made it clear to the Europeans that the US would not tolerate interference in the Americas and it would fight to protect its interests. Foreign policy experts such as Ian Bremmer and Robert Kaplan have advised appeasement and suggested that we should terminate our obligations to Taiwan and Japan. He calls this “offensive realism.” The neo-cons who worked for the first President Bush wanted the US to become a global hegemon and they created the Wolfowitz Doctrine, which Allison does not mention. Allison believes that both America and China assume that they are special and inherently superior to other nations. China has made it clear it does not want be part of a world order dominated by the US and its liberal democratic values. Allison believes that there will soon come a time when the US would probably lose a military confrontation in the South China Sea. Some of Allison’s chosen historical lessons were not particularly relevant to the coming conflict with China and I often disagreed with his analysis. Germany’s decision to go to war in 1914 was mainly about its rivalry with Russia and maintaining hegemony over the European mainland, something Britain never had any interest in. Allison's list of key players in 1914 (e.g., Churchill, Edward VII, Bethmann Hollweg, and the Kaiser) is also wide of the mark. On the British side, Sir Edward Grey (Foreign Secretary) and David Lloyd George ultimately called the shots."
"This work, by looking at the past and how competition between countries often leads to war—like a game of road chicken-tries to suss out what both the US and China need to do to prevent war between our nations."
"This can be a scary book, but keep reading."
"Excelent analysis of historical data with comparative analysis and deep knowledge of decision making under pressure."
"Clearly we are sleeping in America while the huge totaliarian state of China begins to isolate America through the use of soft power."
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Best International Treaties

Undemocratic: How Unelected, Unaccountable Bureaucrats Are Stealing Your Liberty and Freedom
Jay Sekulow—one of America’s most influential attorneys—explores a post Obama landscape where bureaucracy has taken over our government and provides a practical roadmap to help take back our personal liberties. The bureaucracy violates the rights of Americans without accountability—persecuting adoptive parents, denying veterans quality healthcare, discriminating against conservatives and Christians for partisan purposes, and damaging our economy with job-killing rules. Jay Sekulow is widely regarded as one of the foremost free speech and religious liberties litigators in the United States, having argued twelve times before the US Supreme Court in some of the most groundbreaking First Amendment cases of the past quarter century. He is a member of President Donald Trump’s legal team, and he is also a popular talk radio host and regularly appears on major media, including Fox News, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, and other outlets.
Reviews
"Every American who is concerned about the direction of the country in the midst of almost unimaginable change can learn a great deal from Sekulow's careful, scholarly and nonpartisan analysis of the. bureaucracy that grows more powerful daily."
"Love the ability to listen while I drive."
"This book explains, in easy to understand detail, what our current government has plunged our country into and the steps we need to take to reclaim our American Heritage."
"Jay "tells it like it is" in a "no-holds-barred" fashion."
"The style of writing is engaging and easy to follow considering the complexities and intrigue that characterize the massive exploitation by government agencies. It will be an invaluable tool for those of us who want to shrink the massive growth of the federal government and restore checks and balances that will not allow executive agencies to have so much unconstitutional power."
"We are losing our freedoms and thank the Lord we have someone like Jay Sekulow fighting for us."
"A true patriot and expert on Constitutional Law, Jay Sekewlow shows how our freedoms, bought and paid for by the sacrifices of our founding fathers are being stolen from by the ever-growing bureaucracy of our federal government and the abuse of Constitutional Law."
"Mr. Sekulow and the American Center for Law and Justice continue their efforts to expose and bring corruption to the public eye."
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Best Arms Control

One Minute to Midnight
Here, for the first time, are gripping accounts of Khrushchev's plan to destroy the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo; the handling of Soviet nuclear warheads on Cuba; and the extraordinary story of a U-2 spy plane that got lost over Russia at the peak of the crisis. In this re-examination of the 1963 Bay of Pigs face-off between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., Dobbs combines visits to Cuba, discussions with Russian participants and fingertip command of archival and printed U.S. sources to describe a wild ride that—contrary to the myth of Kennedy's steel-nerved crisis management—was shaped by improvisation, guesswork and blind luck. In a densely packed, fast-paced, suspenseful narrative, Dobbs presents the crisis from its early stages through the decision to blockade Cuba and Kennedy's ordering of DEFCON 2, the last step before an attack, to the final resolution on October 27 and 28. Although nothing presented here will change the overall view of the crisis, Dobbs presents new and often startling information that again confirms that the thirteen days in October brought the world to the edge of an unprecedented cataclysm.
Reviews
"One thing that will stay with me forever was how close we were of a nuclear war, but most importantly, that I would not have been because of the big, important pieces of the chess game, like Kennedy or Khrushchev or Castro but because of people with little minds and no capacity of realizing how the consequences of their actions could hurt millions of people."
"The Cuban Missile Crisis was the most dangerous moment during the Cold War, when humanity was in danger of annihilation.The main players of this showdown were two: Khrushchev and Kennedy.Their game was taking place on the tiny island of Castro's Cuba. For those who know very little about the crisis, this book will help them not only get started, but will also take them on a dangerous ride which is typical of thriller writers.For the specialists in this field, this book has to offer serious research- including many pages of documentation as well."
"The discovery of nuclear capable cruise missiles, by VFP-62 photos, revealed new information on how they were to be used against Guantanamo Naval Base and invading U.S. forces. The accounting of the wayward U2 that strayed over the Soviet Union during the height of the crisis, the crash of a F-106 with a nuclear bomb on board, the shoot down of a U2 over Cuba, the lack of full control over the nuclear weapons, in Cuba, the Soviet Union, and the United States, is a chilling reminder of how close we came to a nuclear disaster. Through television documentaries such as, "Man, Moment, Machine", or "DEFCON 2" by the History and Discovery Channels, or the movie "Thirteen Days", the public is led to a superficial coverage of the most dangerous time in our nation's history."
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