Broke Down and Bought

January 12th, 2011 by zen

Grand Strategies: Literature, Statecraft, and World Order by Charles Hill

Heard way too many good things about this book from regular commenters like Scott Shipman (read his review here) to ignore it. The blurbs on the dust jacket are from some genuine heavyweights (and provoked an amusing academic political tantrum masquerading as a review  in FP.com from some minor departmental nemesis of Hill’s at Yale, where Hill is one of the founding lecturers of their Grand Strategy Program).

I will upjump this in my antilibrary queue to be read after I finish with Luttwak.

Posted in academia, authors, book, cultural intelligence, culture, diplomacy, diplomatic history, education, Epistemology, fiction, foreign policy, geopolitics, historiography, history, ideas, intellectuals, leadership, metacognition, myth, national security, philosophy, politics, public diplomacy, social science, society, strategy, Strategy and War, synthesis, teaching, theory | 5 comments

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  1. Greg R. Lawson:

    January 12th, 2011 at 9:31 pm

    This is an excellent book as is Luttwak’s "Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire."  The Hill book shows how important literature is to a full understanding of the milieu in which strategy is conceived and executed.  Luttwak’s book is very timely in its description of an empire that had to rely on wiles more than brute strength to survive in a constantly changing and often tempestuous geopolitical environment.  Great lessons, but most importantly, a good reminder of the need to think in ways outside of what may be considered the "modern scientific consensus."

  2. J. Scott:

    January 12th, 2011 at 10:24 pm

    The Luttwak book is excellent, I concur. GLR, I couldn’t agree more with your last sentence; good literature is a valuable synthesis of the world at the time of writing/recording and provides much insight. The more insight, the better. Hill’s reading list and references are a great resource, too. Enjoy, Zen!

  3. Lexington Green:

    January 13th, 2011 at 3:54 am

    Too …  many …   Can’t … read … them all …Currently reading: Decisions for War, 1914-1917, Hamilton and Herwig, eds.On Horseback Through Asia Minor (1877), by Fred BurnabyBoth are good.  Burnaby is a lot more fun.  He died before everything fell apart.  

  4. onparkstreet:

    January 15th, 2011 at 6:03 pm

    So my interest in reading about strategy around here is somehow related to my deep love and affection for novels, particularly novels that explore the inner lives of their characters?
    .
    This is a theory I very much like….
    .
    – Madhu

  5. onparkstreet:

    January 15th, 2011 at 6:05 pm

    okay, deep love and affection towards novels sounds wierd. you know what i mean: some people golf, i read novels, yada, yada, yada.
    .
    my lack of capitalization is my nod to the kids and their creative spelling and stuff. which i do too.
    .
    – Madhu