American national security policy

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Ivo H. Daalder

"For over three years, Washington responded to the war in Bosnia by handing the problem off to the Europeans to resolve and substituting high-minded rhetoric for concerted action. Then, in the summer of 1995, the Clinton administration suddenly shifted course, deciding to take on the leadership role necessary to end the war.". "In this book, Ivo H. Daalder - who coordinated U.S. policy on Bosnia for the National Security Council from 1995 through 1996 - examines why and how Washington finally took on the role it had for so long declined to embrace. Drawing on numerous interviews with key participants in the process, as well as recollections of his own efforts, Daalder shows how the policy to end the war took shape."--BOOK JACKET.

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Barbara Demick

A remarkable view into North Korea, as seen through the lives of six ordinary citizens Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years--a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the unchallenged rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il, and the devastation of a far-ranging famine that killed one-fifth of the population. Taking us into a landscape most of us have never before seen, award-winning journalist Barbara Demick brings to life what it means to be living under the most repressive totalitarian regime today--an Orwellian world that is by choice not connected to the Internet, in which radio and television dials are welded to the one government station, and where displays of affection are punished; a police state where informants are rewarded and where an offhand remark can send a person to the gulag for life. Demick takes us deep inside the country, beyond the reach of government censors. Through meticulous and sensitive reporting, we see her six subjects--average North Korean citizens--fall in love, raise families, nurture ambitions, and struggle for survival. One by one, we experience the moments when they realize that their government has betrayed them. Nothing to Envy is a groundbreaking addition to the literature of totalitarianism and an eye-opening look at a closed world that is of increasing global importance. From the Hardcover edition.

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Fred I. Greenstein

"When Eisenhower left office more than twenty years ago, he was generally regarded as the very model of an ineffective president, a benign but politically indecisive leader who reigned but did not rule. Only now, five unsuccessful presidents and a disastrous war later, are we beginning to wonder how this seemingly bumbling and inarticulate man was able to get so much done while appearing to do so little. In The Hidden-Hand Presidency, Fred I. Greenstein, one of the country's leading political scientists, shows that behind Ike's bland 'statesmanlike' exterior there was a distinctive, self-consciously articulated style of leadership. Drawing on recently declassified confidential diaries, letters, and memoranda--including evidence of a secret Eisenhower campaign to terminate Joe McCarthy's political effectiveness--Greenstein shows us an intelligent and articulate leader who knew exactly what he wanted and was prepared to work hard to get it. Time and again, in the way he rallied subordinates and isolated political opponents, in his maneuvers to win support among both isolationalist right wingers and liberal Republicans, Eisenhower proved himself a skilled politician while self-consciously projecting an uncontroversial public image."--Jacket.

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Jack A. Goldstone

From the American Revolution to the conflicts in Afghanistan, revolutions have played a critical role in the course of history. Insight into the causes of revolutions and the factors that shape their outcomes is critical to understanding politics and world history. Part One offers a combination of classic treatises and late-breaking scholarship that develops students' theoretical understanding of revolutionary movements. Part Two shows students how these theories play out in real life through rich, accessible accounts of major revolutionary episodes in modern history.