3.5
On Grand Strategy
ByPublisher Description
“The best education in grand strategy available in a single volume . . . a book that should be read by every American leader or would-be leader.”—The Wall Street Journal
A master class in strategic thinking, distilled from the legendary program the author has co-taught at Yale for decades
John Lewis Gaddis, the distinguished historian of the Cold War, has for almost two decades co-taught grand strategy at Yale University with his colleagues Charles Hill and Paul Kennedy. Now, in On Grand Strategy, Gaddis reflects on what he has learned. In chapters extending from the ancient world through World War II, Gaddis assesses grand strategic theory and practice in Herodotus, Thucydides, Sun Tzu, Octavian/Augustus, St. Augustine, Machiavelli, Elizabeth I, Philip II, the American Founding Fathers, Clausewitz, Tolstoy, Lincoln, Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Isaiah Berlin. On Grand Strategy applies the sharp insights and wit readers have come to expect from Gaddis to times, places, and people he’s never written about before. For anyone interested in the art of leadership, On Grand Strategy is, in every way, a master class.
A master class in strategic thinking, distilled from the legendary program the author has co-taught at Yale for decades
John Lewis Gaddis, the distinguished historian of the Cold War, has for almost two decades co-taught grand strategy at Yale University with his colleagues Charles Hill and Paul Kennedy. Now, in On Grand Strategy, Gaddis reflects on what he has learned. In chapters extending from the ancient world through World War II, Gaddis assesses grand strategic theory and practice in Herodotus, Thucydides, Sun Tzu, Octavian/Augustus, St. Augustine, Machiavelli, Elizabeth I, Philip II, the American Founding Fathers, Clausewitz, Tolstoy, Lincoln, Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Isaiah Berlin. On Grand Strategy applies the sharp insights and wit readers have come to expect from Gaddis to times, places, and people he’s never written about before. For anyone interested in the art of leadership, On Grand Strategy is, in every way, a master class.
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3.5
“This book covers historical examples of successful and failed strategic decision-making. In this book, the author argues that grand strategy relies on the alignment of dreams, aspirations, objectives, and goals with the limited resources and capabilities that leaders have. Undertaking big decisions and tasks with insufficient resources resulted in failures and destruction; stepping back from right opportunities due to underestimation of one's abilities may also result in weakness and miscalculation. The book, however, is a discussion of a string of historical illustrations. A reader who does not have sufficient understanding of the examples might get lost in the middle of the book. In fact, this heavy reliance on historical examples may prevent some readers from enjoying the book fully because they may feel obliged to visit extra references just to get the story behind the historical characters discussed in the book. It is also not a self-help type of book that will teach its readers strategic thinking for day-to-day life (compared to books a la 48 Laws of Power). The book has a good introduction and nice conclusion but the momentum of discussion in the middle may slow down the interest of the readers”
About John Lewis Gaddis
John Lewis Gaddis is the Robert A. Lovett Professor of History at Yale University, and was the founding director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy. His previous books include The United States and the Origins of the Cold War; Strategies of Containment; The Long Peace; We Now Know; The Landscape of History; Surprise, Security, and the American Experience; and The Cold War: A New History. Professor Gaddis teaches courses on Cold War history, grand strategy, biography, and historical methodology. He has won two undergraduate teaching awards at Yale and was a 2005 recipient of the National Humanities Medal. His George F. Kennan: An American Life won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Biography.
Other books by John Lewis Gaddis
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