Walter Russell Mead

U.S. Foreign Policy   May/June 2019 Capsule Review

The Lessons of Tragedy: Statecraft and World Order

Brands and Edel worry about what the world would look like if the United States pulled back.

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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U.S. Foreign Policy   May/June 2019 Capsule Review

Clear and Present Safety: The World Has Never Been Better and Why That Matters to Americans

Cohen and Zenko give a new meaning to the Depression-era slogan “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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Obama Administration   May/June 2019 Capsule Review

Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward

Readers nostalgic for the Obama era will enjoy Jarrett’s account of a consequential presidency. 

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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U.S. Foreign Policy   May/June 2019 Capsule Review

The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal

Burns' lucid and panoramic memoir takes stock of U.S. diplomatic successes and failures over the course of his distinguished and varied career. 

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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  May/June 2019 Capsule Review

The Case for Trump

Hanson claims to present a case for Trump but offers no real defense of the president’s ethics, learning, rhetoric, or character. 

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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U.S. Foreign Policy   March/April 2019 Capsule Review

The Point of It All: A Lifetime of Great Loves and Endeavors

In this book, Charles Krauthammer’s son, Daniel, himself a writer, assembles some of his father’s most important columns.

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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Religion   March/April 2019 Capsule Review

The Chosen Wars: How Judaism Became an American Religion

Weisman makes a convincing case that the cultural and theological beliefs of the nineteenth-century American Jewish community continue to shape American Jewish life...

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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Law & Institutions   March/April 2019 Capsule Review

John Marshall: The Man Who Made the Supreme Court

In this brisk biography, Brookhiser shows that Marshall’s success on the Supreme Court was partly due to the power of his legal reasoning and partly to his brilliant...

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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U.S. Foreign Policy   March/April 2019 Capsule Review

The Empty Throne: America’s Abdication of Global Leadership

Daalder and Lindsay lucidly, if not very originally, argue that U.S. President Donald Trump’s leadership has weakened the United States’ alliances, undermined the...

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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U.S. Foreign Policy   March/April 2019 Capsule Review

Every Day Is Extra

Kerry's memoir gives a comprehensive and, in places, moving account of his time in office. 

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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Theory   January/February 2019 Capsule Review

The Ideas That Made America: A Brief History

Ratner-Rosenhagen offers a brisk walk through the American intellectual tradition, from New England Puritanism to modern pragmatism.

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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U.S. Foreign Policy   January/February 2019 Capsule Review

Grand Improvisation: America Confronts the British Superpower, 1945–1957

Leebaert’s history of the U.S.-British relationship from V-E Day to the aftermath of the 1956 Suez crisis highlights attacks the view that the postwar period saw a...

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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Middle East   January/February 2019 Capsule Review

Lords of the Desert: The Battle Between the United States and Great Britain for Supremacy in the Modern Middle East

This is a gripping story, and Barr, a gifted narrative historian, tells it well, casting light on both the history of the U.S. presence in the modern Middle East and...

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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Politics & Society   January/February 2019 Capsule Review

Reconstruction: A Concise History

Guelzo offers a concise, clear, and temperate account of one of the most complex periods in U.S. history.

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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Trump Administration   January/February 2019 Capsule Review

Fear: Trump in the White House

The latest of Woodward’s 12 books of instant history based on insider access to the White House spotlights the struggles of the often dysfunctional Trump administration.

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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Economics   November/December 2018 Capsule Review

Tailspin: The People and Forces Behind America’s Fifty-Year Fall—and Those Fighting to Reverse It

Brill blends journalism and history to tell a complex but vital story: how the stable world of postwar U.S. capitalism transformed into the volatile and often ruthless...

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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U.S. Foreign Policy   November/December 2018 Capsule Review

Our American Israel: The Story of an Entangled Alliance

Kaplan’s perspective as a scholar of American studies provides the key insight of this book: that the United States’ affinity for Israel has less to do with American...

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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Politics & Society   November/December 2018 Capsule Review

The Rise of Andrew Jackson: Myth, Manipulation, and the Making of Modern Politics

In this detailed and diverting book, the Heidlers look at the political and media machinery that Andrew Jackson’s core supporters erected to assist his presidential...

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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Politics & Society   November/December 2018 Capsule Review

Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations

Chua argues on the basis of psychological research that humans are hard-wired to prefer members of their own tribe and to regard outsiders with suspicion.

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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Race & Ethnicity   November/December 2018 Capsule Review

No Property in Man: Slavery and Antislavery at the Nation’s Founding

Was the U.S. Constitution, as the South Carolinian states-man John C. Calhoun believed, a pro-slavery document, or did it, as President Abraham Lincoln argued, deny...

Reviewed by Walter Russell Mead

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