The past five years have been turbulent for the eurozone. Yet leaders such as Angela Merkel and François Hollande are determined to keep The European Project intact, and even among one-time critics there is a broad consensus that the eurozone will have to hang together. Strobe Talbott introduces the extraordinary life and vision of Jean Monnet-the man credited as the architect of European unity. Monnet died in 1979, long before the euro went into circulation, and his relevance today is all...

Momentous events have a way of connecting individuals both to history and to one another. So it was on September 11. Even before more than 4000 people died in less than two hours, there were farewell messages from the sky. In their last minutes, doomed passengers used cell phones to reach loved ones. A short time later, office workers trapped high in the burning towers called spouses, children, parents. Never had so many had the means to say good-bye. During the hours afterward, the surviv...

The presidency of Donald Trump has wreaked havoc on American democracy, divided American society, unsettled foreign allies and partners, and heartened dictators around the world. The damage at home and abroad is likely to cast a long shadow into the future. Trump has also defiled the past, most notably America's origin and its soul.The Founders counted on their successors to protect and perfect their prodigy with its fundamental ideals, laws, and procedures. They also aspired to a c...

Fast Forward is equal parts science primer, history lesson, policy prescription, and ethical treatise. This pithy and compelling book makes clear what we know and don't know about global warming; why the threat demands prudent and urgent action; why the transition to a low-carbon economy will be the most difficult political and economic transaction in history; and how it requires nothing less than a revolution in our sense of civic responsibility.William Antholis and Strobe...

The brief war between Russia and Georgia in August 2008 seemed to many like an unexpected shot out of the blue that was gone as quickly as it came. Former Assistant Deputy Secretary of State Ronald Asmus contends that it was a conflict that was prepared and planned for some time by Moscow, part of a broader strategy to send a message to the United States: that Russia is going to flex its muscle in the twenty-first century. A Little War that Changed the World is a fascinating look ...

Scholars from the Brookings Institution's Energy Security Initiative and the Hoover Institution's Task Force on Energy Policy offer recommendations for ensuring the security and sustainability of our electricity system now and for future generations through the greater deployment of distributed power systems (DPS). Their report provides a comprehensive survey of the current technology and policy landscape of DPS and offers suggestions for its most effective use, along with warnings on its ...

Isaiah Berlin's response to the Soviet Union was central to his identity, both personally and intellectually. Born a Russian subject in Riga in 1909, he spoke Russian as a child and witnessed both revolutions in St. Petersburg in 1917, emigrating to the West in 1921. He first returned to Russia in 1945, when he met the writers Anna Akhmatova and Boris Pasternak. These formative encounters helped shape his later work, especially his defense of political freedom and his studies of pre-Soviet...

In Service of Emergent India is an evocative insider's account of a crucial period in India's history. It provides an in-depth look at events that changed the way the world perceived India, and a unique view of Indian statecraft. As Minister of External Affairs, Defense, and Finance in the BJP-led governments of 1996 and 1998-2004, Jaswant Singh was the main foreign policy spokesman for the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee during the 1998 nuclear tests by India and Pakistan, the hijackin...

How the United States helped restore a Europe battered by World War II and created the foundation for the postwar international orderSeventy years ago, in the wake of World War II, the United States did something almost unprecedented in world history: It launched and paid for an economic aid plan to restore a continent reeling from war. The European Recovery Plan-better known as the Marshall Plan, after chief advocate Secretary of State George C. Marshall-was in par...

This memoir of an American woman's life in Moscow traces the social and cultural evolution of Russia from the era of Krushchev to the era of Putin.In the mid-1960s, Naomi Collins was a graduate student at Moscow State University. As the 21st century began, she was the wife of the American Ambassador to Russia. In this insightful memoir, she shares her reflections and impressions of life as an American woman living in the Russian capital over the course of four decad...

With a revised foreword by Brookings President Strobe Talbott and a new introduction by Berlin’s editor, Henry Hardy.George Kennan, the architect of US policy toward the Soviet Union, called Isaiah Berlin the patron saint among the commentators of the Russian scene.” In The Soviet Mind, Berlin proves himself fully worthy of that accolade. Although the essays in this book were originally written to explore the tensions between Soviet communism and Russian culture, the thin...

**A Financial Times Best Political Book of 2017An urgent examination of how the political and social volatility in Europe impacts the United States and the rest of the world.**The dream of a United States of Europe is unraveling in the wake of several crises now afflicting the continent. The single Euro currency threatens to break apart amid bitter arguments between rich northern creditors and poor southern debtors. Russia is back as an aggressive power, annexing C...