The American Studies Program has
recently gathered reference
meterials including new books on the
current U.S. politics, foreign
policy and society. Our Reading
Corner is now open for students and
interested readers. Please view the
available materials below and
contact us at asp.isisthailand@gmail.com
or
02 218 7430
to find out how you can borrow them.
We are planning to purchase more
interesting materials on the U.S.
Stay tuned!
ASP - English Books
Global Powers in the 21st Century
Strategies and Relations
Alexander T.J. Lennon and Amanda
Kozlowski
Although the United States is
considered the world’s only
superpower, other major powers seek
to strengthen the roles they play on
the global stage. Because of the
Iraq War and its repercussions, many
countries have placed an increased
emphasis on multilateralism. This
new desire for a multipolar world,
however, may obscure the obvious
question of what objectives other
powerful countries seek. Few
scholars and policymakers have
addressed the role of the other
major powers in a post-9/11 world.
Global Powers in the 21st Century
fills this gap, offering in-depth
analyses of China, Japan, Russia,
India, and the European Union in
this new global context.
Prominent analysts examine the
policies and positions of the global
player from both international and
domestic perspectives. The book
discuss each power’s domestic
politics, sources of power, post
9/11 changes, relationship with
United States, adjustments to
globalization, and vision of its
place in the world. Global Powers in
the 21st Century offers reader look
at the handful of actors that will
shape the world in the years ahead.
An East Asian Community and the
United States
Ralph A. Cossa and Akihiko Tanaka
Seven prominent scholars clarify the
roots, background, and the
theoretical framework of the
emerging East Asian community and
provide a policy perspective on how
the United States should participate
in the framework. The complex issues
involved include balancing national
interests with global concerns,
problems of political
reconciliation, and relationships
with the region’s other multilateral
organizations and initiatives.
War of Necessity, War of Choice A
Memoir of Two Iraq Wars
Richard N. Haass
When should the United States go to
war? Is it arguably the most
important foreign policy question
facing any president, and Richard
Haass–a member of the National
Securityy Council staff for the
first President Bush and the
director of policy planning in the
State department for Bush II–is in a
unique position to address it. Haass
is one of just a handful of
individuals–along with Colin Powell,
Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Bob
Gates–involved at a senior level of
U.S. government decision making
during both Iraq conflicts. He is
the first to take us behind closed
doors and the first to provide a
personal account. The result is a
book that is authoritative,
revealing, and surprising. Haass
explains not only happened but why.
War of Necessity, War of Choice–part
history, part memoir–provides
invaluable insight into some of the
most important recent events in the
world. It also provides a
much-needed compass for how the
United States can apply the lessons
learned from the two Iraq wars so
that it is better positioned to put
into practice what worked and to
avoid repeating what so clearly did
not.
Manifest Destiny: American
Expansion and the Empire of Right
Anders Stephanson
In this sophisticated analysis,
Anders Stephanson explores the
origins of the Manifest Destiny–the
American idea of providential and
historical chosenness–and how and
why it has been invoked over the
past three hundred years. Stephanson
traces the roots of Manifest Destiny
from the British settlement of North
America and the rise of Puritanism
through Woodrow Wilson’s effort to
“make the world safe for democracy”
and Ronald’s struggle against the
“evil empire” of the Soviet Union.
The result is remarkable and
necessary book about how faith in
divinely ordained expansionism has
marked the course of American
history.
After America: Narratives for the
Next Global Age
Paul Starobin
According to Starobin, the After
America world is being driven less
by virulent anti-Americanism that by
America’s middling status as a
social, economic, and political
innovator; by long-wave trends like
resurgent nationalism in China
India, and Russia; and by the growth
of transnational cultural,
political, and economic
institutions. While what is going to
come next has not been resolved, we
can discern certain narratives that
are already advancing. In this
sense, the After America age is
already a work in progress–pregnant
with multiple possibilities.
Thought provoking and well argues,
After America offers a way to think
about a dramatically changing world
in which the United States is no
longer number one. Starobin’s tone
is sober but in the end hopeful–the
age After America need not be a
disaster for America, and might even
be liberating.
.Renegade:
The Making of a President
Richard Wolffe
This book is previously untold and
epic story of how a political
newcomer with no money and an alien
name grew into the world’s most
powerful leader. But it is also
uniquely intimate portrait of the
person behind the iconic posters and
the Secret Service code name
Renegade
Renegade provides not only an
account of Obama’s triumphs, but
also examines his many personal and
political trials. We see Obama
wrestling with race and politics, as
well as his former pastor Reverend
Jeremiah Wright. We see him
struggling with life as a
presidential candidate, a campaign
that falters for most of its first
year, and his reaction to a surprise
defeat in the New Hampshire primary.
And we see him relaying on his
personal experience as well as
meticulous polling, to pass the
presidential test in foreign and
economic affairs
.
Masters and Commanders LP: How
Four Titans Won the War in the West,
1941-1945
Andrew
Roberts
An epic joint biography, Master and
Commanders explores the degree to
which the course of the Second World
War turned on the relationships and
temperaments of four of the
strongest personalities of the
twentieth century: political masters
Winston Churchill and Franklin D.
Roosevelt and the commanders of
their armed forces, General Sir Alan
Brooke and General George C.
Marshall. Each was exceptionally
tough willed a strong minded, and
each was certain that he knew best
how to win the war. Yet each knew
that he had to win at least two of
the others if he was to have his
strategy adopted. Andrew Roberts,
whom The Economist calls “Britain’
finest contemporary military
historian,” traces the mutual
suspicion and admiration, the
rebuffs and the charm, the
often-explosive disagreements and
wary reconciliations, and he helps
us to appreciate the motives and
imperatives acting upon these key
leaders struggling to destroy
Nazism.
Masters and Commanders dramatically
re-creates the atmosphere, debates,
and maneuverings through which
Allied grand strategy was forged and
reveals the profound impact of
personality upon history.
Catastrophe
Dick Moris&Eileen Mcgann
NOW. IT”S THAT SIMPLE. IT”S THAT
URGENT
So begins Dick Morris and Eileen
McGann’s latest and most important
book. They say that we must act
before President Barack Obama fully
implements his radical political
agenda. Because after Obama has won
his war on prosperity and canceled
that war on terror, it will be too
late to regain our liberty or out
security.
At a time when we needed a pragmatic
centrist to lead us our of
recession, we got a doctrine
socialist who wants to use the
critics to put the government in
charge of the economy and enact
European socialism here in the
United States. Cars, banks–what’s
next? He will keep at it until
Washington governs every major
business in America and sets all our
salaries.
It’s a catastrophe.
A Failure of Capitalism
The Honorable Richard A. Posner
The Financial and economic crisis
that began in 2008 is the most
alarming of our lifetime. How could
it have happened, after all we’ve
learned from the Great Depression?
Why wasn’t it anticipated? What can
be done to reverse a slide into a
full-blown depression? Why have the
responses to fate of the government
and the economics profession been so
indecisive? Richard Posner presents
a concise and non-technical
examination of this financial
disaster and the stumbling efforts
to cope with it.
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not)
Getting By in America
Barbara Ehrenreich
Acclaimed as an instant classic
upon publication, Nickle and Dimed
has sold more than 1.5 million
copies and become a staple of
classroom reading. Chosen for “one
book” initiatives across the
country, it has fueled nationwide
campaigns for a living wage. Funny,
poignant, and passionate, this
revelatory firsthand account of life
in low-wage America–the story of
Barbara Ehrenreich’s attemps to eke
out a living while working as a
waitress, hotel maid, house,
cleaner, nursing-home aide, and
Wal-Mart associate–has become an
essential part of the nation’s
political discourse.
Now, in a new afterward,
Ehrenreich shows that the plight of
the underpaid has in no way eased:
with fewer jobs available,
deteriorating work conditions, and
no pay increase in sight, Nickle and
Dimed us more relevant than ever.
U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy
William J. Perry
The Council on Foreign Relations
sponsors Independent Task Forces to
assess issues of current and
critical importance to U.S. foreign
policy and provide policymakers with
concrete judgments and
recommendations. Diverse in
backgrounds and perspectives, Task
Force members aim to reach a
meaningful consensus on policy
through private and nonpartisan
deliberations. Once launched, Task
Forces are independent of CFR and
solely responsible for the content
of their reports. Task Force members
are asked to join a consensus
signifying that they endorse “the
general policy thrust and judgments
reached by the group, though not
necessarily every finding and
recommendation.” Each Task Force
member also has the option of
putting forward an additional or
dissenting view. Members’
affiliations are listed for
identification purposes only and do
not imply institutional endorsement.
Task Force observers participate in
discussions, but are not asked to
join the consensus.
Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and
the Disaster in Pakistan,
Afghanistan, and Central Asia
Ahmed Rashid
After September 11th, Ahmed
Rashid's crucial book Taliban
introduced us to that now notorious
regime. In his new work, "Pakistan's
best and bravest reporter"
(Christopher Hitchens) examines
Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central
Asia as well as the corridors of
power in Washington and Europe to
see how the promised nation building
has progressed. His conclusions are
devastating: an unstable and
nucleararmed Pakistan, a renewed Al
Qaeda, and a Taliban resurgence and
reconquest. As he predicted,
Pakistan and Afghanistan are now
where the real war is. His
blistering critique of American
policy is a dire warning and an
impassioned call to correct our
failed strategies. There is no more
urgent global task.
Bad Money: Reckless Finance,
Failed Politics, and the Global
Crisis of American Capitalism
Kevin Phillips
In his most provocative and timely
book yet, Kevin Phillips describes
the consequence of our catastrophic
economic policies, our mounting
debt, our collapsing housing market,
our diminishing oil, and the end of
American domination of world
markets. As always, Phillips goes
after far beyond the daily news
coverage of these topics, both to
add historical context and to show
the foolish web of dubious
strategies in which they are
entangled. Washington’s promotion of
public and private debt, its
incompetence in energy matters, its
blunders in Iraq, and the overall
loss of international respect for
American political leadership and
global strategies are all fuel for
Phillips’s fire. He’s devastating in
his conclusion that, in all ways,
“bad” money and finance have failed
the American people and pointed
flawed U.S. capitalism toward a
global crisis.
We Can Have Peace in the Holy
Land: A Plan That Will Work
Jimmy Carter
In this urgent, balanced, and
passionate book, Nobel Peace
Laureate and former President Jimmy
Carter argues that the president
moment is a unique time for
achieving peace in the Middle
East–and he offers a bold and
comprehensive plan to do just that.
The Limits of Power: The End of
American Exceptionalism
Andrew Bacevich
An immediate New York Times
Bestseller, The Limits of Power
offers a searing examination of
economic, political, and military
crises facing America. Writing with
knowledge born of experience,
conservative historian and former
military officer Andrew J. Bacevich
calls for a revival of the badly
neglected American realist
tradition. Exposing the multiple
illusions that have distorted the
U.S. policy since 1945, he
challenges Americans to respect
power and its limits, shed their
claims of exceptionalism, critically
examine their way of life, and learn
to live within their means. Only by
embracing such principles, Bacevich
eloquently argues, will Americans
find the common ground to address
the nation’s urgent problems before
the damage becomes irreparable.
Myths, Illusions, and Peace:
Finding a New Direction for America
in the Middle East
Dennis Ross, David Makovsky
The last decade has witnessed the
slow growth of an Iranian nuclear
program despite U.S. efforts to
curtail it, the tragic failure of
the Oslo Accord, the second intifada,
and devastating wars fought between
Israel and Hamas and Hizbollah.
Meanwhile, the Iraq war has cost
thousands of American lives and
hundreds of billions of dollars,
while peace remains elusive. It all
begs the pressing question: Why has
the United States consistently
failed to achieve its strategic
goals in the Middle East?
Pursuing the American Dream:
Opportunity & Exclusion over Four
Centuries
Cal Jillson, Calvin C. Jillson
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness: these words have long
respected the promise of America,
and, even before they were penned,
this country was seen as the land of
opportunity. Touted by poets,
pundits, and politicians, the
American Dream is the spark that
animates American life, the promise
held out to youngsters and
immigrants that hard work will
result in security and prosperity.
The reality of that Dream, however,
has long depended on the
circumstances of the dreamer, since
over the years many have been
effectively barred from pursuing it.
In this book Cal Jillson examines
America’s complex and evolving
social landscape to show the
contexts that have shaped the Dream
and the pattners of exclusion that
have left some dreaming in vain.
The Breakthrough: Politics and
Race in the Age of Obama
Gwen Ifill
In the Breakthrough, veteran
journalist Gwen Ifill surveys the
American political landscape,
shedding new light on the impact of
Barack Obama’s stunning presidential
victory and introducing the emerging
young African American politicians
forging a bold new path to political
power.
The Breakthrough is a remarkable
look at contemporary politics and
essential foundation for
understanding the future of American
democracy in the age of Obama.
The
Inheritance
David E. Sanger
In a riveting narrative, The Inheritance describes the huge
costs of distraction and lost opportunities at home and
abroad as Iraq soaked up manpower, money, and intelligence
capabilities. The 2008 market collapse further undermined
American leadership, leaving the new president with a set of
challenges unparalleled since Franklin D. Roosevelt entered
the Oval Office
.
.Thai-U.S.
Forgong a New Partnership in the 21st Century
Pranee Thiparat,
Nongnuth
Phetcharatana
.America's Role
In Asia --Asian and American Views
The Asia
Foundation
"The Continuing
impact of 9/11 and the subsequent anti-terrorism campaign
have perceptively influenced U.S. security strategy and
bilateral relationaship with key Asian countries. While the
United States has been "the" regional power since the then
of World War II, there's some uncertainty about the
releavance of the power at a time when Asian nations are
attempting to foster greater regional cooperation and forge
a stronger regional identity. Given the political, economic
and Security interest if the United States in the regional,
it is essential that both Americans and Asians contribute to
solving problems and addressing challenges of mutual
concern-- from stability on the Korean penisula, conflict in
Afghanistan, and the global war on terror to energy
security, environment degradation, and trade."
The Audacity
of Hope
Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
Barack Obama
The Audacity of Hope is Barack Obama’s call for a new kind
of politics—a politics that builds upon those shared
understanding that pull us together as Americans. Lucid in
his vision of America’s place in the world, refreshingly
candid about his family life and his time in the Senate,
Obama here sets out his political convictions and inspires
us to trust the dogged optimism that has long defined us and
that is our best hope going forward.
Change We Can
Believe In: Barack Obama's Plan to Renew America's Promise
Barack Obama
At this defining moment in our history, Americans are hungry
for change. After years of failed policies and a failed
politics from Washington, this is our chance to reclaim the
American dream. Barack Obama has proven to be a new kind of
leader—one who can bring people together, be honest about
the challenges we face, and move this nation forward. Change
We Can Believe In outlines his vision for America
In these pages you will find bold and specific ideas about
how to fix our ailing economy and strengthen the middle
class, make health care affordable for all, achieve energy
independence, and keep America safe in dangerous world.
Change We Can Believe In asks you not just to believe in
Barack Obama’s ability to bring change to Washington, it
asks you to believe in yours.
Dreams from My
Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Barack Obama
In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the
son of black African father and a white American mother
searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black
American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns
that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than a man—has
been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an
emotional odyssey—first to a small town in Kansas, from
which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to
Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African sides
of his family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets
the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth
of his father’s life, and at last reconciles his divided
inheritance.
Second Chance:
Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower
Zbigniew
Brzezinsk
Second Chance is a dispassionate, unsparing assessment of
how these three presidents performed as history’s first true
global leaders, and how that performance was influenced by
their personal leadership styles. ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI,
American’s most distinguished commentator on international
affairs, concludes that in these years the United States
squandered a great deal of its power and prestige. None of
the three presidents escapes criticism, though the blame is
by no means shared equally. Brezezinski concludes by
recommending how America can regain its global structure in
an era of global political awakening.
With a new Afterword adding further insight, Second Chance
provides not only a critical appraisal but also permanently
useful guide America’s long-term role in the world.
The White Man's
Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So
Much Ill and So Little Good
William
Easterly
From one of the
world’s best-known development economists—an excoriating
attack on the tragic hubris of the West’s efforts to improve
the lot of the developing world.
Five years ago in
his widely praised first book, The Elusive Quest for Growth,
William Easterly rocked the development world’s conventional
wisdom on economic growth to its foundations, and had to
hastily exit his former employer, the World Bank. In much
anticipated sequel, The White Man’s Burden, Easterly (now a
professor at New York University) turns his attention to
foreign aid and related Western efforts to help the world’s
most desperate people. The result is a brilliant and
blistering indictment of the failure of Western aid to reach
the poor. Sometimes angry, sometimes irreverent, but always
clear-eyed and rigorous, Easterly argues that we in the West
need to face our own history of ineptitude and hold our own
and agencies accountable for the results of their actions,
especially at a time when the plight of the world’s poor is
one of the most pressing issues we face.
In The Post-American
World
Fareed Zakaria
“Fareed Zakaria
has been consistently brilliant in his analysis of world
affairs but also something far more rare: he has turned out
to have been right. Now he’s produced another masterpiece of
insight. With great reporting and cultural understanding,
Zakaria explains a future shaped by many emerging power
centers. This book isn’t about America’s decline, it’s about
how it can deploy its unique strengths to prosper as the
rest of the world does so as well. It’s a definitive
handbook for political and business leaders who want to
succeed in a global ear.
The
Declaration of Independence: How 13 Colonies Became the
United States
Syl Sobel J.D.
How much do you
really know about the Declaration of Independence? Of
course, you know it’s the document that formally served 13
American colonies’ ties with England…that it’s dated July 4,
1776…
Open this book
for the answers to these and many more questions. You’ll
discover a wealth of fascinating facts about the men who
assembled in Philadelphia in 1776 to give birth to a new
nation.
Presidential
Elections: And Other Cool Facts
Syl Sobel J.D.
The Bush-Gore
election of 2000 was one that historians and teachers will
study and talk about for years to come. But that wasn’t the
only unusual election in the United States history. Young
readers can open this book and find all kinds of interesting
facts about elections.