Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower

New York, NY: Basic Books, 2007. First edition. First printing [stated]. Hardcover. Glued binding. Paper over boards. [6], 234 p. Illustrations. Index. From the most highly respected analyst of foreign policy writing today, this book presents a story of wasted opportunity and squandered prestige-the history of the last three U.S. presidents' foreign policy. The most distinguished commentator on foreign policy, former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, offers a reasoned but unsparing assessment of the foreign policy of America's last three presidential administrations. Though spanning less than two decades, these administrations cover a vitally important turning point in world history: the period in which the US, having emerged from the Cold War with an unprecedented degree of power and prestige, managed to squander both in a remarkably short time. This is a tale of decline: from the competent but conventional thinking of the first Bush administration, to the good intentioned self-indulgence of the Clinton administration, to the mortgaging of America's future by the "suicidal statecraft" of the second Bush administration. Brzezinski concludes with a chapter on how America can regain its lost prestige, if not its former dominance. This scholarly yet highly opinionated book is sure to be both controversial and influential. From Wikipedia: "Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski; born March 28, 1928) is a Polish American political scientist, geostrategist, and statesman who served as United States National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981. Major foreign policy events during his term of office included the normalization of relations with the People's Republic of China (and the severing of ties with the Republic of China); the signing of the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II); the brokering of the Camp David Accords; the transition of Iran from an important U.S. client state to an anti-Western Islamic Republic, encouraging dissidents in Eastern Europe and emphasizing human rights in order to undermine the influence of the Soviet Union; the financing of the mujahideen in Afghanistan in response to the Soviet deployment of forces there and the arming of these rebels to counter the Soviet invasion; and the signing of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties relinquishing overt U.S. control of the Panama Canal after 1999. Brzezinski is currently Robert E. Osgood Professor of American Foreign Policy at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and a member of various boards and councils. He appears frequently as an expert on the PBS program The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, ABC News' This Week with Christiane Amanpour, and on MSNBC's Morning Joe, where his daughter, Mika Brzezinski, is co-anchor. In recent years, he has been a supporter of the Prague Process. [3] His son, Mark Brzezinski, is an American diplomat and the current United States Ambassador to Sweden since 2011." Condition: Very good in good dust jacket. Rear DJ flap creased. DJ has some wear and soiling.

Keywords: Madeleine Albright, Al Qaeda, Arms Race, Cold War, European Union, Globalization, Arab-Israeli, Palestinian, NATO, Neoconservatism, Nonproliferation, Terrorism

ISBN: 9780465002528

[Book #67984]

Price: $25.00

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