Bookshelf: Negotiating With Evil by Mitchell B. Reiss

Reiss’ important book offers some of the most lucid and sensible reflections yet on the topic.

In this collection of essays, distinguished scholars offer reflections on the past struggles and ­accomplishments of left-leaning parties in Europe and the United States and speculate about their future.

In this rendering, it was not containment that won the Cold War but the relentless efforts of activists, journalists, lawyers, minority-rights advocates, and diplomats who worked across borders to set the stage for the political earthquakes that followed.

The book seeks to explain the bias in American foreign policy toward threats and punishments and argues that it is a legacy of the Cold War, which taught politicians to worry about charges of appeasement.

As Hyde notes, the practice of inviting foreign observers to monitor elections has become so widespread that it has turned into an international norm.