Customer Reviews

1999: Victory Without War Limited Edition

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Finishing this book 4/23/2000, I found it really interesting. Since it was actually written in 1988, a lot of the information is outdated. But most of it makes sense still. Nixon gave tips, political strategies, and predictions about the next twelve years. And he was right about most of them. This is a really good book, even though it is old. I still learned a lot from it.

I originally bought this book in 1988, when it was brand new, and I whipped it out recently to see just how close President Nixon was in his analysis. Well, right off the bat I could see that he had gotten it wrong.

In 1985, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev assumed power in the Soviet Union, and instituted his policies of perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness). It was the fear of those on the political right (and the hope of those on the political left) that Gorby would succeed in breathing life back into the aging monster. In 1988, ex-President Richard Nixon wrote this book, which was dedicated to what the United States would have to do to have victory over a reinvigorated Soviet Union. "If his dramatic domestic reforms are as successful, in the twenty-first century we will confront a more prosperous, productive Soviet Union. It will then be a more formidable opponent, not less, than it is today." (p.26) Well, in point of fact, the Soviet Union could not reinvigorate itself, and it collapsed.

The problem with this book is that it is all about dealing with a reinvigorated Soviet Union, and as such does not have much to say to the real twenty-first century that we actually do face. Checking the index, you will find but one reference to Islamic Fundamentalism, and while the book does discuss America's need to work with China, Japan and Europe, it is so tightly focused on the Soviet Union that what it says just does not apply to our reality.

Therefore, let me just say that, though this book is highly readable, it misses the mark so far that I just cannot imagine what it can say to the modern world. It was a good try Mr. Nixon, but it missed its target.