The Virtues of a ‘Laid Back’ Foreign Policy

The Virtues of a ‘Laid Back’ Foreign Policy

by | May 1, 2022

The Stupidity of War: American Foreign Policy and the Case for Complacency by John Mueller. Cambridge University Press, 2021. Hardback, 342 pages, $28. Reviewed by Michael J. Ard John Mueller, professor emeritus from the Ohio State University, has long questioned the...
The Enduring Mystery of War

The Enduring Mystery of War

by | Jun 13, 2021

War: How Conflict Shaped Us by Margaret MacMillan. Random House, 2020. Hardcover, 336 pages, $30. Reviewed by Michael J. Ard Times were tough for Ötzi the Iceman. Found thirty years ago in the Italian Alps, the multi-wounded corpse of the five-thousand-year-old hunter...
The President’s Hidden Hand

The President’s Hidden Hand

by | Nov 1, 2020

Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins by Annie Jacobsen. Back Bay Books, 2019. Paperback, 560 pages, $19. Reviewed by Michael J. Ard Is lethal covert action compatible with American democracy?...
Fear Your Toaster

Fear Your Toaster

by | May 26, 2019

Click Here to Kill Everybody: Security and Survival in a Hyper-Connected World by Bruce Schneier W. W. Norton & Company, 2018. Hardcover, 288 pages, $28. Reviewed by Michael J. Ard What happens when everything is a computer, connected to everything else? How then...
Supporting Statecraft

Supporting Statecraft

by | Sep 23, 2018

The Secret World: A History of Intelligence by Christopher Andrew. Yale University Press, 2018. Hardcover, 960 pages, $40. Reviewed by Michael J. Ard “The further backwards you look, the further forward you can see.” This quote by Winston Churchill sums up the guiding...