War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence
Written by Ronan Farrow
Narrated by Ronan Farrow
4/5
()
Unavailable in your country
Unavailable in your country
About this audiobook
A book for anyone interested to know more about how the world really works by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow.
‘This is one of the most important books of our time.’ Walter Isaacson ‘A masterpiece’ Dan Simpson, Post-Gazette THE NEW YORK TIMES #3 BESTSELLERUS foreign policy is undergoing a dire transformation, forever changing America’s place in the world. Institutions of diplomacy and development are bleeding out after deep budget cuts; the diplomats who make America’s deals and protect democratic interests around the world are walking out in droves. Offices across the State Department sit empty, while abroad the military-industrial complex has assumed the work once undertaken by peacemakers. Increasingly, America is a nation that shoots first and asks questions later.
In an astonishing journey from the corridors of power in Washington, DC, to some of the most remote and dangerous places on earth – Afghanistan, Somalia, and North Korea among them acclaimed investigative journalist Ronan Farrow illuminates one of the most consequential and poorly understood changes in American history. His first-hand experience as a former State Department official affords a personal look at some of the last standard bearers of traditional statecraft, including Richard Holbrooke, who made peace in Bosnia and died while trying to do so in Afghanistan.
Drawing on newly unearthed documents, and richly informed by rare interviews with warlords, whistle-blowers, and policymakers – including every living secretary of state from Henry Kissinger to Hillary Clinton to Rex Tillerson – War on Peace makes a powerful case for an endangered profession. Diplomacy, Farrow argues, has declined after decades of political cowardice, short-sightedness, and outright malice – but it may just offer a way out of a world at war.
Related to War on Peace
Related audiobooks
Fall Out: A Year of Political Mayhem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Naked Diplomacy: Power and Statecraft in the Digital Age Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything: Tales from the Pentagon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Failures of State: The Inside Story of Britain’s Battle with Coronavirus Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Putin v. the People: The Perilous Politics of a Divided Russia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity 5th Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Democracy for Sale: Dark Money and Dirty Politics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Russia Without Putin: Money, Power and the Myths of the New Cold War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Code of Putinism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5China's Western Horizon: Beijing and the New Geopolitics of Eurasia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin's Russia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Information Wars: How We Lost the Global Battle Against Disinformation and What We Can Do about It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Introduction to Politics 4th Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Inevitability of Tragedy: Henry Kissinger and His World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Shadow War: Inside Russia's and China's Secret Operations to Defeat America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Who Rules the World? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Decline and Fail: Read In Case of Political Apocalypse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Russia's Crony Capitalism: The Path from Market Economy to Kleptocracy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Crude Intentions: How Oil Corruption Contaminates The World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow Propaganda Works Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Iran Rising: The Survival and Future of the Islamic Republic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inside the Middle East: Making Sense of the Most Dangerous and Complicated Region on Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The China Challenge: Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Belarus: The Last European Dictatorship Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInside Story: Politics, Intrigue and Treachery from Thatcher to Brexit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Politics For You
The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The 48 Laws of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Small Mercies: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elon Musk Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5While Time Remains: A North Korean Girl's Search for Freedom in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Razorblade Tears: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Behold a Pale Horse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Out of the Wreckage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You Can't Joke About That: Why Everything Is Funny, Nothing Is Sacred, and We’re All in This Together Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An American Marriage: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragonfire: Four Days That (Almost) Changed America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for War on Peace
82 ratings8 reviews
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Why is audiobook not available in the U.S region?!!! Mann I really want to listen!!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is one of the best book that I've read in the past few years. I think, it is great work of investigative Journalist that overviews the American Diplomacy all over the world and its current influence.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Essential reading. Most important political book I've read in years. Well researched look at the decline in diplomacy in American foreign policy and it's already proven effects.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Brilliant! So thorough, well written and the audio version of the book is very well read.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Farrow's thesis here is that U.S. foreign policy is leaning heavily toward military decision makers and, as a consequence, away from diplomats. While he offers quite a few examples of how U.S. foreign policy has failed to address the biggest, thorniest issues of the past decade (Afghanistan, the Arab Spring, North Korea), I'm not sure he makes the case that those failures are because of a tilt toward military decision making rather than, for example, overinvolvement of domestic political actors or a desire for 'easy' wins over longterm planning. After all, diplomats could potentially be just as susceptible to those flaws as military leaders. That said, there's a lot of food for thought in this book, and I suspect I'll be thinking about it for quite awhile.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow, if I wasn't depressed enough about the status and standing of the United States in the world, Farrow threw buckets of cold water on any of my expectations for American exceptionalism. Farrow did a tour around the world and showed how ineffective our diplomatic efforts have been in Afghanistan, North Korea, Columbia and Somalia. Farrow's interview with an obviously overmatched Rex Tillerson is worth the price of the book alone.
His description of Richard Holbrook's efforts to use statecraft and diplomacy to seek peace and resolution in Afghanistan is compelling reading. (Pretty obvious we can't trust anyone in that part of the world, especially Pakistan. This country looked the other way as dictators tortured and killed innocent civilians , including children.
Excellent journalism. A great book... - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5About half of this book recounts the author's time working with and for Richard Holbrooke and as such makes more of a statement about the late diplomat's personality and career than a coherent argument about the role of civilians, diplomats, in shaping and carrying out foreign policy. The remainder of the book makes a very effective argument for taking most of the power and a good bit of the money from the military and intelligence communities and putting them back into the hands of career, professional diplomats. Farrow bookends his work with the story of Thomas Countryman, someone I know n respect as a highly intelligent, highly dedicated public servant who was summarily dismissed in the midst of negotiations for no discernible reason. Unfortunately, there are now hundreds of stories like Tom's, dedicated civil servants, expert diplomats, dismissed without cause early in the Trump Administration. Farrow hints at many problems but takes aim at one that was growing even when I was still working as a U.S. diplomat, the swing toward military solutions for complex, often multi-lateral, issues in foreign relations. This isn't the book I had hoped Farrow wrote, but it is a damn good book!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Investigative reporter Farrow draws on his years working in the state department and his various contacts to produce a credible argument for the importance of diplomacy in today's chaotic world. He examines events in recent history, particularly since 9/11/2001, that reflect on the growth of military influence in our government as opposed to the use of diplomatic efforts to solve worldwide issues. He argues that diplomacy should be supported by military force, not the other way around, which is what exists today. He discusses the further decline of diplomacy under Trump who appears to prefer loading his administration with ex-military people than seasoned diplomats and how Tillerson did more to destroy the state department than any other secretary of state. This is a thoughtful and insightful look at an important issue that is too often overlooked today.