America in Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder

Stephens, a Pulitzer-winning foreign affairs columnist for The Wall Street Journal and former editor of The Jerusalem Post, eloquently warns of mounting U.S. isolationism and the chaos that may result. This compact volume responds to current concerns, particularly among progressives and libertarians, that the U.S. military is overly committed abroad. Readers of Stephens’s WSJ columns will recognize persistent themes: the return of al-Qaeda and the future of Iran; escalating Russian aggression; and Chinese militarism. Others will discover a thoughtful case for Pax Americana. Stephens’s lucid review of isolationism starts with Henry Wallace and Sen. Robert A. Taft in the 1940s, giving context to current American thinking on the left and right that “we should not be the world’s policeman.” He paints Americans as an idealistic yet complacent people who, after expecting too much from winning the Cold War, have ever since felt “fleeced, like a tourist in a Mideast bazaar.” We might want to come home and be comfy, but like it or not, Stephens insists, the U.S. will remain the leading world power, and must plan for escalating global disorder. Given the U.S.’s recently renewed commitments in the Middle East, Stephens’s clear, convincing apologia for American power will make especially timely reading for American foreign policy’s skeptics and opponents. Agent: Chris Calhoun, Chris Calhoun Agency. (Nov.)