Barnett’s Great Powers: The Cutting Room Floor
Tom’s new book Great Powers: America and the World After Bush
Tom has just released some of the material that had been cut during the editing process and it’s worth a look. It’s interesting and it gives you an idea of thoughts in process for writing a large work even if ultimately, these sections received the axe:
GP: the lost chapters
Remember when Tom wrote that the deleted chapters from Great Powers would appear online? Two are now up on International Relations and Security Nework.
The original Chapter One is now Creed of an American Grand Strategist: I am a great power. And so can you!
The subtitle was Mark Warren’s idea (an obvious link to Colbert’s book), which Tom thought was pretty funny.
The original Chapter Two, ‘A-to-Z of American Grand Strategy’ is now broken into four parts:
+ A lexicon deconstructed: A-G
+ A lexicon deconstructed: H-M
+ A lexicon deconstructed: N-S
+ A lexicon deconstructed: T-ZFor now, we’re just linking to ISN. We’ll be reprinting both of these lost chapters in their entirety later in the month.
Having been both writer and an editor on a small scale, I think the natural tendency of every writer is to cling to every word. Frequently though, in making an important point, less really is more to the reader. A good editor clears away the clutter and let’s the writer’s best shine through with clarity.
