On Grand Strategy

What are the keys to effective pursuit of a grand strategy in world politics? John Lewis Gaddis argues that one is the alignment of aspirations with capabilities. Leaders who aspire to effect radical transformations require both operational approaches and resources that measure up to the task. The author walks the reader through reflections on historical cases that were once the bedrock of any college student’s course of study. These include the 480 BC Battle of Salamis and Themistocles’s strategic deception, Herodotus’s and Augustine’s warnings about moral humility, Machiavelli’s lion-fox dynamic, Elizabeth I’s prudence in decision-making, and many other illustrative cases. Leaders need to be aware of their limits, flexible in their methods, and able to balance short- and long-term ambitions. Readers with a humanities background looking to enter the field of foreign policy will especially benefit from this book.