War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence

　　A harrowing exploration of the collapse of American diplomacy and the abdication of global leadership.

　　"This is one of the most important books of our time." Walter Isaacson

　　US foreign policy is undergoing a dire transformation, forever changing America’s place in the world. Institutions of diplomacy and development are bleeding out after deep budget cuts; the diplomats who make America’s deals and protect democratic interests around the world are walking out in droves. Offices across the State Department sit empty, while abroad the military-industrial complex has assumed the work once undertaken by peacemakers. Increasingly, America is a nation that shoots first and asks questions later.

　　In an astonishing journey from the corridors of power in Washington, DC, to some of the most remote and dangerous places on earth – Afghanistan, Somalia, and North Korea among them acclaimed investigative journalist Ronan Farrow illuminates one of the most consequential and poorly understood changes in American history. His first-hand experience as a former State Department official affords a personal look at some of the last standard bearers of traditional statecraft, including Richard Holbrooke, who made peace in Bosnia and died while trying to do so in Afghanistan.

　　Drawing on newly unearthed documents, and richly informed by rare interviews with warlords, whistle-blowers, and policymakers – including every living secretary of state from Henry Kissinger to Hillary Clinton to Rex Tillerson – War on Peace makes a powerful case for an endangered profession. Diplomacy, Farrow argues, has declined after decades of political cowardice, short-sightedness, and outright malice – but it may just offer a way out of a world at war.

　　Review

　　‘Astonishing reporting and gripping prose … Based on interviews with every living Secretary of State plus dozens of whistle blowers and insiders, this book is an indispensable and fascinating revelation of what diplomats actually do and why undermining them is so dangerous. Farrow is a riveting storyteller with a great eye for colourful characters. This is one of the most important books of our time.’ Walter Isaacson

　　‘Ronan Farrow has scooped us all (again). And it is no wonder. A gifted writer with a powerful intellect and a passion for truth, Farrow has become one of this generation’s finest journalists and “War on Peace” a book that will be required reading for generations to come. It is perhaps the most riveting and relatable book on foreign policy and diplomacy I have ever read. I have covered these same corridors of diplomatic power, these same bloody war-zones, yet on every page of “War on Peace” I was astonished by what I learned.’ Martha Raddatz, ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent and author of The Long Road Home
 

作者簡介

　　Ronan Farrow is an attorney, former State Department official, and investigative journalist who has reported for NBC News and written for the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the New Yorker, which published his exposés on sexual assault. He lives in New York City.