Bloodless Coup

Halberstam's "The Best and the Brightest," about American decision-making (and foreign policy) on Vietnam. The parallels between the (flawed) decision-making process then and now (with respect to Iraq) are frightening. It's literally stunning how much (bad) history we are repeating fourty years later.

Steve Coll's "Ghost Wars" is an amazing description of US policy in Afghanistan (and the greater Middle East), and is a great example of the externalities problem (helping the Afghan guerillas hurts the Soviets, but gives us Bin Laden a decade later).

How far back are you going? LaFeber's "The New Empire" talks about the economic motives (drives) of America's push outward in the post-civil war period (1860 to 1898). It's brilliantly written, if a little heavy on economic determinism (and veers towards Marxism at times, but that can be fun). Zimmerman's "First Great Triumph" looks at Teddy Roosevelt, and his push to make American foreign policy global and active. It's a good look at the origins of many policies that continued throughout the 1940s, 50s and into the 60s.

Well, I'm open to changing things up a bit next fall, that's why I'm asking. I figure I'll continue to use one basic text to talk about the bureaucracy, interest groups, Congress, key issues (you know - the whole who are the players and what's going on in the arena kind of thing). And I'm sure to keep Mead's Special Providence (on enduring foreign policy belief sets in US culture), and I guess I was thinking of keeping Zakaria's From Wealth to Power (which also gets at the importance of economic interests in the 19th century - but also adds on the importance of building a state apparatus of a certain sort).

Ghost Wars and The New Empire are definitely worth considering (maybe substituting the latter for the Zakaria). I think Best and the Brightest is a great book, and I like Halberstam a lot (I used to assign War in a Time of Peace), but I don't think I'd assign it to undergrads - b/c while it's a good book, it's terribly organized. And since so many students need all the help they can get when trying to figure out themes, connections and causal relationships ...