The Return of History and the End of Dreams

The Return of History and the End of Dreams
by Robert Kagan

The Return of History and the End of Dreams
List Price: $19.95
Our Price: $11.41
You Save: $8.54 (43%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Robert Kagan
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-04-29
ISBN: 030726923X
Number of pages: 128
Publisher: Knopf

Book Reviews of The Return of History and the End of Dreams

Book Review: Democracies of the World, Unite
Summary: 5 Stars

This short book reads more like a long essay than a book and focuses on the post-Cold War world. Like many recent books, this book is also concerned with the United States' current position in the world given the rise of China, the EU, Russia and Iran. The underlying thesis is that in the years to come states will align themselves not based on region or culture, but rather by form of government and foreign policy. In other words, the world's democracies will strengthen ties amongst themselves by way of economic and political ties while the world's autocracies (namely China, Russia and Iran) will further strengthen its bonds, thereby creating a counterbalance to western democracies. In many respects, such an alignment is already underway and there are no signs of letting up. Kagan suggests that liberal democracy has survived the most deadly century of mankind and it is stronger than it ever has been globally. He doesn't argue that democracy is the superior form of government, but he clearly recognizes that if the world is ever to succeed in its quest for worldwide peace and prosperity, it will be up to the United States and the rest of the world's democracies to get us there. But for the time being, post-Cold War dreams of global unity and cooperation have failed and history as we knew it has returned.

Summary of The Return of History and the End of Dreams

Hopes for a new peaceful international order after the end of the Cold War have been dashed by sobering realities: Great powers are once again competing for honor and influence. Nation-states remain as strong as ever, as do the old, explosive forces of ambitious nationalism. The world remains "unipolar," but international competition among the United States, Russia, China, Europe, Japan, India, and Iran raise new threats of regional conflict. Communism is dead, but a new contest between western liberalism and the great eastern autocracies of Russia and China has reinjected ideology into geopolitics. Finally, radical Islamists are waging a violent struggle against the modern secular cultures and powers that, in their view, have dominated, penetrated, and polluted their Islamic world. The grand expectation that after the Cold War the world would enter an era of international geopolitical convergence has proven wrong.

For the past few years, the liberal world has been internally divided and distracted by issues both profound and petty. Now, in The Return of History and the End of Dreams, Robert Kagan masterfully poses the most important questions facing the liberal democratic countries, challenging them to choose whether they want to shape history or let others shape it for them.

Political Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in David Cameron's Reading List for Summer 2008
Decline to Fall: The Making of British Macro-economic Policy and the 1976 IMF Crisis ImageDecline to Fall: The Making of British Macro-economic Policy and the 1976 IMF Crisis
by Douglas Wass
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-05-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $94.42
Price in other shops: $110.00
A Stranger in Europe: Britain and the EU from Thatcher to Blair ImageA Stranger in Europe: Britain and the EU from Thatcher to Blair
by Stephen Wall
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-07-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $33.48
Price in other shops: $39.95
The Post-American World ImageThe Post-American World
by Fareed Zakaria
W. W. Norton; Published: 2008-05-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.17
Price in other shops: $25.95
Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War ImageMr. Lincoln's T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War
by Tom Wheeler
Collins Business; Published: 2006-11-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.66
Price in other shops: $24.95
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness ImageNudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
by Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein
Yale University Press; Published: 2008-04-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.18
Price in other shops: $26.00
Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia ImageDescent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia
by Ahmed Rashid
Viking Adult; Published: 2008-06-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.97
Price in other shops: $27.95
A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide ImageA Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide
by Samantha Power
Harper Perennial; Published: 2003-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.97
Price in other shops: $17.95
Britain in Africa (African Arguments) ImageBritain in Africa (African Arguments)
by Tom Porteous
Zed Books; Published: 2008-06-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.20
Price in other shops: $23.00
Political Hypocrisy: The Mask of Power, from Hobbes to Orwell and Beyond ImagePolitical Hypocrisy: The Mask of Power, from Hobbes to Orwell and Beyond
by David Runciman
Princeton University Press; Published: 2008-04-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.00
Price in other shops: $29.95
Cold Cream: My Early Life and Other Mistakes ImageCold Cream: My Early Life and Other Mistakes
by Ferdinand Mount
Bloomsbury; Published: 2008-04; Hardcover; Book
Similar Books and other products
Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order ImageOf Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order
by Robert Kagan
Vintage; Published: 2004-01-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.90
Price in other shops: $11.95
The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash ImageThe Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash
by Charles R. Morris
PublicAffairs; Published: 2008-03-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops: $22.95
God and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World ImageGod and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World
by Walter Russell Mead
Knopf; Published: 2007-10-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.74
Price in other shops: $27.95
Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making ImageSuperclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making
by David Rothkopf
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2008-03-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.63
Price in other shops: $26.00
War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism ImageWar and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism
by Douglas J. Feith
Harper; Published: 2008-03-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.01
Price in other shops: $27.95
Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet ImageCommon Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet
by Jeffrey D. Sachs
Penguin Press HC, The; Published: 2008-03-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.03
Price in other shops: $27.95
Terror and Consent : The Wars for the Twenty-First Century ImageTerror and Consent : The Wars for the Twenty-First Century
by Philip Bobbitt
Knopf; Published: 2008-04-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.95
Price in other shops: $35.00
Dangerous Nation: America's Foreign Policy from Its Earliest Days to the Dawn of the Twentieth Century (Vintage) ImageDangerous Nation: America's Foreign Policy from Its Earliest Days to the Dawn of the Twentieth Century (Vintage)
by Robert Kagan
Vintage; Published: 2007-11-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.83
Price in other shops: $16.95
The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order ImageThe Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order
by Parag Khanna
Random House; Published: 2008-03-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.77
Price in other shops: $29.00
The Post-American World ImageThe Post-American World
by Fareed Zakaria
W. W. Norton; Published: 2008-05-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.48
Price in other shops: $25.95
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories