Great Decisions »

Great Decisions Briefing Book 2010

Receive a 10% discount on orders of ten or more briefing books!

Featured topics: Special envoys, Kenya and R2P, Global crime, U.S.-China security relations, Global financial crisis, Russia and its neighbors, Persian Gulf, Peace building and conflict resolution ($18, plus S&H)

Great Decisions 2010 Television Series on DVD

Ten half hour programs designed to support Great Decisions discussions.

• United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
• EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana
• Actress and Goodwill Ambassador Mira Sorvino
• U.S. Senator Carl Levin
• New York Times Columnist Nicolas Kristof

Teacher's Guide 2010

Intended to help instructors better prepare students for their role as citizens of a globally interdependent world. Now available exclusively in PDF format. ($16.50, electronic delivery)

Great Decisions 2009

Order your copy of the Great Decisions 2009 briefing book today! Great Decisions 2009 features impartial, thought-provoking analyses on eight issues of concern to U.S. policymakers today and that represent our foreign policy challenges of tomorrow.

Featured topics: U.S. & rising global powers, Afghanistan/Pakistan, energy & the global economy, the Arctic, U.S. & Egypt, global food supply, Cuba after Castro, and universal human rights. ($18, plus S&H)

Great Decisions 2009 Television Series

Order your copy of Great Decisions 2009 TV Series on DVD. Now in its 24th season, the Great Decisions Television Series, hosted by Ralph Begleiter, devotes one half-hour episode to each of the eight Great Decisions 2009 topics, exploring them in detail with experts in the field. ($40, plus S&H)

Teacher's Guide 2009

Order your copy of Great Decisions 2009 Teacher's Guide intended to help instructors better prepare students for their role as citizens of a globally interdependent world. ($27.50, plus S&H)

Editor's Picks »

Great Decisions French Language Edition 2008 [Download or Print]

Featuring impartial, thought-provoking analyses on four issues of concern to U.S. policymakers today and that represent our foreign policy challenges of tomorrow. Featured topics: Europe, Terrorism, US Defense policy, Philanthropy. The Foreign Policy Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring the American public to learn more about the world. Founded in 1918, the Foreign Policy Association serves as a catalyst for developing awareness, understanding of, and providing informed opinions on global issues. Through its balanced, nonpartisan programs and publications, the FPA encourages citizens to participate in the foreign policy process.

The Good Soldiers

The Good Soldiers chronicles the harrowing deployment of Army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers, following the announcement by President George W. Bush in January 2007 of a troop surge in Iraq. Washington Post reporter David Finkel traveled with the 2-16 throughout its 15-month deployment, and tells an unforgettable story of the impact of the surge on Iraq and on the soldiers themselves.

Great Decisions 2009 French Language Edition [Download or Print]

In partnership with Alliance Francaise USA, FPA presents the French language edition of the Great Decisions 2009 briefing book which features impartial, thought-provoking analyses on four issues of concern to U.S. policymakers today and that represent our foreign policy challenges of tomorrow.

Worse Than War: Genocide, Eliminationism, and the Ongoing Assault on Humanity

Drawing on extensive field work and research from around the world, Goldhagen explores the anatomy of genocide—explaining why genocides begin, are sustained, and end; why societies support them, why they happen so frequently and how the international community should and can successfully stop them.

To End a War

To End a War is a brilliant portrayal of high-wire, high-stakes diplomacy in one of the toughest negotiations of modern times, to end the war in the former Yugoslavia. A classic account of the uses and misuses of American power, its lessons go far beyond the boundaries of the Balkans and provide a powerful argument for continued American leadership in the modern world.

Street Fighters: The Last 72 Hours of Bear Stearns, the Toughest Firm on Wall Street

The shocking fall of Bear Stearns in March 2008 set off a wave of global financial turmoil that continues to ripple. How could one of the oldest, most resilient firms on Wall Street go so far astray that it had to be sold at a fire sale price? How could the guys who ran Bear so aggressively miscalculate so completely? Kate Kelly takes us inside Bear's walls during its final, frenzied 72 hours as an independent firm. Expanding with fresh detail from her acclaimed front- page series in The Wall Street Journal, she captures every sight, sound, and smell of those three unbelievable days.

China: Fragile Superpower

Once a sleeping giant, China today is the world's fastest growing economy--the leading manufacturer of cell phones, laptop computers, and digital cameras--a dramatic turn-around that alarms many Westerners. But in China: Fragile Superpower, Susan L. Shirk opens up the black box of Chinese politics and finds that the real danger lies elsewhere--not in China's astonishing growth, but in the deep insecurity of its leaders. China's leaders face a troubling paradox: the more developed and prosperous the country becomes, the more insecure and threatened they feel.

Power and Restraint: A Shared Vision for the U.S.-China Relationship

Power and Restraint is the result of a major research project by some of the most distinguished Chinese and American scholars have to address the big bilateral and global issues the two countries face to establish consensus on potentially contentious issues and elaborate areas where the two nations can work together to achieve common goals.

Post-Conflict Peacebuilding: A Lexicon

Post-Conflict Peacebuilding comes at a critical time for post-conflict peace building. Its rapid move towards the top of the international political agenda has been accompanied by added scrutiny. Considerable ambiguity in the concepts and terminology used to discuss post-conflict peacebuilding make this lexicon essential to clarifying and illuminating the multiple facets of post-conflict peacebuilding, by presenting its major themes and trends from an analytical perspective.

At War's End: Building Peace after Civil Conflict

Exploring the challenge of rehabilitating countries after civil wars, At War's End finds that attempting to transform war-shattered states into liberal democracies with market economies can backfire badly. Roland Paris contends that the rapid introduction of democracy and capitalism in the absence of effective institutions can increase rather than decrease the danger of renewed fighting. A more effective approach to post-conflict peacebuilding would be to introduce political and economic reform in a gradual and controlled manner.

In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic

“Whatever it takes.” That was Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's vow as the worst financial panic in more than fifty years gripped the world and he struggled to avoid the once unthinkable: a repeat of the Great Depression. In piecing together the fullest, most authoritative, and alarming picture yet of this decisive moment in our nation's history, In Fed We Trust answers the most critical questions about the players and their responses to the crisis?

The Myth of the Rational Market: A History of Risk, Reward, and Delusion on Wall Street

The Myth of the Rational Market chronicles the rise and fall of the efficient market theory and the century-long making of the modern financial industry. The book brings to life the people and ideas that forged modern finance and investing, from the formative days of Wall Street through the Great Depression and into the financial calamity of today.

The Sages: Warren Buffett, George Soros, Paul Volcker, and the Maelstrom of Markets

Throughout the violent financial disruptions of the past several years, three men have stood out as beacons of judgment and wisdom: Warren Buffett, George Soros, and Paul Volcker. With the benefit of his own deep understanding of markets and finance, The Sages brilliantly analyzes the records of these men, distilling their wisdom and experience—and argues for the importance of consistent values in navigating the treacherous terrain of today's globalized world.

House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street

William D. Cohan's superb and shocking book chronicles the fall of Bear Stearns and the end of the Second Gilded Age on Wall Street. Bear Stearns serves as the Rosetta Stone to explain how a combination of risky bets, corporate political infighting, lax government regulations and truly bad decision-making wrought havoc on the world financial system.

Restoring Financial Stability: How to Repair a Failed System

This book is the culmination of the work of a group of thirty-three academics at New York University Stern School of Business who began tackling the hard questions to better understand the origins of the current financial crisis as well as the options for restoring financial health.

The Rise and Fall of the US Mortgage and Credit Markets: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Market Meltdown

In this book, James Barth explores the shock waves that have rippled through the entire financial sector and the real economy. Deploying an incredibly detailed and extensive set of data, the book offers in-depth analysis of the mortgage meltdown and the resulting worldwide financial crisis. This authoritative volume explores what went wrong in every critical area, including securitization, loan origination practices, regulation and supervision, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, leverage and accounting practices, and of course, the rating agencies.

The Great Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences

In this new book, John Bellamy Foster and Fred Magdoff offer a bold analysis of the financial meltdown, how it developed, and the implications for the future. They examine the specifics of the housing bubble and the credit crunch as well as situate current events within a broader crisis of monopoly-finance capitalism—one that has been gestating for several decades. It is the "real" productive economy's tendency toward stagnation, they argue, that creates a need for capital to find ways to profitably invest its surplus.

The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008

Paul Krugman writes about how the failure of regulation to keep pace with an increasingly out-of-control financial system set the United States, and the world as a whole, up for the greatest financial crisis since the 1930s. He also lays out the steps that must be taken to contain the crisis, and turn around a world economy sliding into a deep recession. Brilliantly crafted in Krugman's trademark style--lucid, lively, and supremely informed--this new edition of The Return of Depression Economics will become an instant cornerstone of the debate over how to respond to the crisis.

The Origin of Financial Crises: Central Banks, Credit Bubbles, and the Efficient Market Fallacy

In a series of disarmingly simple arguments financial market analyst George Cooper challenges the core principles of today's economic orthodoxy and explains how we have created an economy that is inherently unstable and crisis prone. With great skill, he examines the very foundations of today's economic philosophy and adds a compelling analysis of the forces behind economic crisis. His goal is nothing less than preventing the seemingly endless procession of damaging boom-bust cycles, unsustainable economic bubbles, crippling credit crunches, and debilitating inflation.

The Guns of August 2008: Russia's War in Georgia

In the summer of 2008, a conflict that appeared to have begun in the breakaway Georgian territory of South Ossetia rapidly escalated to become the most significant crisis in European security in a decade. This book is designed to present the facts about the events of August 2008 along with comprehensive coverage of the background to those events and contributions Russian, Georgian, European, and American experts on the region.

War and Peace in the Caucasus: Russia's Troubled Frontier

Having spent decades reporting on conflicts in Georgia and Chechnya, Vicken Cheterian provides an authoritative account of ethno-nationalistic strife in the Caucasus since the collapse of the Soviet Union. He investigates why some nationalist movements became violent while others did not and explores various secessionist rebellions in the region. He also discusses ongoing instability in the North Caucasus, Georgia, and Armenia, and analyzes the competition between Western powers and a newly resurgent Russia for the Caucasus's hydrocarbon resources.

Countdown to War in Georgia, Russia's Foreign Policy and Media Coverage of the Conflict in South Ossetia and Abkhazia

The August 2008 events in South Ossetia did more than just interrupt Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's trip to the Beijing Olympics. They ushered in a new low in Russian-American relations, perhaps the worst in the post-Cold War era. The staff at East View has worked rapidly to produce what may be the first book-length treatment on the subject in the aftermath of the war, covers the period from 1989, when tensions in South Ossetia began to boil over as Gorbachev relaxed the iron fist of Soviet control, to late August of 2008, when the situation degraded to open warfare and an entirely new situation presented itself.

A Little War that Shook the World: Georgia, Russia, and the Future of the West

The brief war between Russia and Georgia in August 2008 seemed to many like an unexpected shot out of the blue that was gone as quickly as it came. Former Assistant Deputy Secretary of State Ronald Asmus contends that it was a conflict that was prepared and planned for some time by Moscow, part of a broader strategy to send a message to the United States: that Russia is going to flex its muscle in the twenty-first century.

Troubled Waters: Future U.S. Security Assistance in the Persian Gulf

Whatever the outcome of the war in Iraq, the United States will substantially reduce its military commitment there at conflict's end. In preparing for that day, policymakers must consider the future shape of American involvement in the wider Persian Gulf. Given its enormous influence on the global economy and its role as a base of support for some of the world's most threatening radical Islamists, the region will remain vital to U.S. economic and physical security indefinitely—a fact made all the more evident by Iran's quest to develop nuclear weapons.

The Post-Soviet Wars: Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict, and Nationhood in the Caucasus

This book is a comparative account of the organized violence in the Caucusus region, looking at four key areas: Chechnya, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Dagestan. Zürcher's goal is to understand the origin and nature of the violence in these regions, the response and suppression from the post-Soviet regime and the resulting outcomes, all with an eye toward understanding why some conflicts turned violent, whereas others not. The book provides a brief history of the region, particularly the resulting changes that took place in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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