A useful, knowledgeable history that is missing a major piece of the puzzle.
A history of American foreign policy from a veteran in the field of “pragmatic diplomacy.”
Zoellick, now a senior fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center, has vast experience in the diplomatic realm: Since the early 1990s, he has served in a wide variety of relevant roles, including deputy secretary of state, deputy chief of staff at the White House, and president of the World Bank. As such, the author has a unique perspective, and the narrative is “rich with tales of human endeavor, problem solving, and political insights.” Unfortunately, women are absent, as Zoellick fails to note the stellar diplomatic contributions of Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton, and others. The author delineates five diplomatic traditions that have been crucial to U.S. foreign policy: a strong sense of the geostrategic potential of North America; trade, transnationalism, and technology; the alliance system, which helps maintain international order; garnering Congressional and public support; and recognizing “America’s purpose” in the world, whether that be advancement of democracy or the power of the U.S. financial system. Benjamin Franklin, America’s “first diplomat,” knew expertly how to play the Old World rivalries off each other, didn’t mind using deceit, and “put practice before theory,” as Stacy Schiff wrote in A Great Improvisation. Alexander Hamilton, writes Zoellick, “employed financial means to attain political, economic, and social ends.” Woodrow Wilson underscored the ideological justification for war—“the world must be made safe for democracy”—yet ultimately lacked the diplomatic team to employ the leverage to pass his peace proposals. From John F. Kennedy, the “crisis manager,” to Lyndon Johnson, a brilliant congressional operator who learned bitterly from the defeat in Vietnam, to Henry Kissinger, the master of realpolitik, to George H.W. Bush, the “alliance leader,” Zoellick accessibly demonstrates how they plied their diplomatic methods. However, the failure to acknowledge women diplomats is a sizable flaw.
A useful, knowledgeable history that is missing a major piece of the puzzle.Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5387-6130-4
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Twelve
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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