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Angelo Codevilla

Advice to War Presidents: A Remedial Course in Statecraft Hardcover – March 24, 2009

by Angelo Codevilla (Author)

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"War presidents" are hardly exceptional in modern American history. To a greater or lesser extent, every president since Wilson has been a War President. Each has committed our country to the pursuit of peace, yet involved us in a seemingly endless series of wars -- conflicts that the American foreign policy establishment has generally made worse. The chief reason, argues Angelo Codevilla in Advice to War Presidents, is that America's leaders have habitually imagined the world as they wished it to be rather than as it is: They acted under the assumptions that war is not a normal tool of statecraft but a curable disease, and that all the world's peoples wish to live as Americans do. As a result, our leaders have committed America to the grandest of ends while constantly subverting their own goals.

Employing many negative examples from the Bush II administration but also ranging widely over the last century, Advice to War Presidents offers a primer on the unchanging principles of foreign policy. Codevilla explains the essentials -- focusing on realities such as diplomacy, alliances, war, economic statecraft, intelligence, and prestige, rather than on meaningless phrases like "international community," "peacekeeping" and "collective security." Not a realist, neoconservative, or a liberal internationalist, Codevilla follows an older tradition: that of historians like Thucydides, Herodotus, and Winston Churchill -- writers who analyzed international affairs without imposing false categories.

Advice to War Presidents is an effort to talk our future presidents down from their rhetorical highs and get them to practice statecraft rather than wishful thinking, lest they give us further violence.

Print length

336 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Basic Books
Publication date

March 24, 2009
Dimensions

6.25 x 0.81 x 9.25 inches
ISBN-10

0465004830
ISBN-13

978-0465004836
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Writing explicitly for an audience that is already familiar with international affairs, Codevilla (The Character of Nations) draws on examples from ancient Greece through the Iraq War to provide a road map for future foreign policy in this accessible but didactic book. In a series of chapters arranged thematically around concepts that include the language of politics and the effectiveness of diplomacy, the author takes issue with the realist, liberal nationalist and neoconservative schools of thought and their ruinous counsel that dominates contemporary international politics, instead advocating a commonsense approach that emphasizes mastering the basic skills of diplomacy and statecraft. Codevilla appeals to the Monroe Doctrine and 19th-century American approaches to foreign affairs while condemning contemporary policy that he believes has failed to secure a lasting peace. Codevilla writes intelligently on topics as diverse as the affect of economic sanctions on Iraq in the 1990s and contemporary relations between Russia and Georgia, but his highly critical style can sometimes be abrasive. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Publishers Weekly
“Accessible… Codevilla writes intelligently on topics as diverse as the affect of economic sanctions on Iraq in the 1990s and contemporary relations between Russia and Georgia.”

Library Journal
“Veteran international relations author Codevilla…questions basic assumptions that have guided U.S. foreign policy since Woodrow Wilson tried to make the world safe for democracy… Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.”

American Spectator
“Machiavelli could not have written a better book to give advice to ‘war presidents.'”

Claremont Review
“Compelling reading… bracing and intelligent.”

FamilySecurityMatters.org
“[An] expansive and important work…[Advice to War Presidents] should be required reading for Senators and their staff as an essential primer to the arcane world of arms control.”

First Principals
“A refreshingly unashamed conservative critique of twentieth-century U.S. foreign policy, especially with regard to war and the use of force.”

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books (March 24, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0465004830
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465004836
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 0.81 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,041,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,335 in United States National Government
- #3,521 in United States Executive Government
- #3,846 in National & International Security (Books)

Customer Reviews:
11 ratings

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Marsgov

An Explantion of the Trump Years

Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2020

Verified Purchase

As with other excellent history books, this one is prophetic; in this case, the author explains otherwise perplexing details of the Trump years. Theories that the author castigates as ossified remnants of late-19th century thinking are exactly the ones Mr. Trump discarded; and Mr. Trump is experiencing exactly the backlash Codevilla predicted when he wrote the book back in 2009.

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JD Butler

Masterful and Essential

Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2016

Verified Purchase

Like all Codevilla books, it is full of clarity, knowledge, and truths you will not find in any other modern book on foreign affairs. Besides wise and neglected principles of statecraft, the book is full of simple historical facts that I had never heard because others have tried (mostly successfully) to airbrush them from history. For example, the book provides relevant facts and context that completely changed the way I look at the Cuban missile crisis, the Iraq War, the War on terror, and Homeland Security. One can only wish that our Presidents would actually read this book.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Robert A. Hall

A must-read for policy makers

Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2011

Verified Purchase

If they would read it, I'd be delighted to buy copies of this book for President Obama, Secretary Clinton and all the GOP Contenders. It's a must read for officials and everyone interested in foreign policy. Dr. Codevilla eviscerates everyone: Bush and the "Neo-cons," the CIA, Kissinger and the "Realists," and every progressive from Wilson on. There is something here to offend every viewpoint. There were things that made me uncomfortable and that I disagree with, but I'm willing to concede that the author has both more experience and has thought more deeply that I have about the subject. This is a book that will challenge your viewpoints and make you defend them. It may, and should, change your views of both war and statecraft. I highly recommend this book.

Robert A. Hall
Author: The Coming Collapse of the American Republic
(All royalties go to a charity to help wounded veterans)

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

gleebi

Real Diplomacy is for the Serious

Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2010

Verified Purchase

Professor Codevilla delivers a tour de force. Citing from Thucydides, Machiavelli, Washington, John Quincy Adams, Teddy Roosevelt and others, he makes compelling case after case of the ineptitude of American Foreign engagements since the wayward fantasies of Woodrow Wilson began to corrupt this country's entanglements. Codevilla presents a deeply reasoned portrait of the exceptional nature of The United States of America, what makes it unique in contrast to other nations both present and historical, and why that should form the foundation of policy, both peaceful and otherwise.

Put simply, Wars are for winning, and serve to secure your land's and its peoples' peace. A brief mention of Sherman's March to the Sea during the latter stages of the American Civil War serves as a strong example of its purpose of hurrying the end of that awful conflict, and that the campaign's efforts and aims were exactly envisioned by its general. Sherman sought to end the slaughter by convincing every Southerner of its price. The result was a sure peace that united this country in the 145 years since.

The peace with Japan over the last six and a half decades? Ensured by the convincing defeat of its military regime. Half measures in Iraq, Korea, Vietnam, Somalia, etc. serve to propel uncertain footings and even more devastatingly, "contempt." Contempt is earned by the powerful through misuse of its arsenals and unrealized, empty threats. Lastly, Americans need to abandon the notion of its unlimited power to change national, ethnic, tribal, religious, etc. jealousies. The world's peoples come to America to escape these jealousies' inevitably harsh effect on life, Americans cannot deliver its unique freedom to the world. Sad but true.

In essence, America should be much more reluctant to get into any entanglement, and if in so doing, do it seriously with the unflinching aim of winning, and without the notion of Colin Powell's "If you break it you own it." As that is surefire Wilsonian folly. Wars mean that you expect and will remove one regime and another will replace it. Your peace (a priori) needs to focus on what the successor regime will guarantee as their rise to power surely depends on your defeat of their predecessor. Understand the world through its history, know that few if any ever willingly lessen their position or thwart their own self-interest. Wilson was misguided by his own highly selfish and fantastical desires. American statesmen should stop following his precedence.

An incredible read from a brilliant mind and author.

3 people found this helpful

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Nathan

Thanks!

Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2020

Verified Purchase

Nice!

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Larry C

You May Not Agree With The Book But You Will Be Glad You Read It

Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2013

Verified Purchase

The analysis is first rate. Obviously written by someone with first hand knowlege to make the understanding of complex Foreign Policy and War/Nat'l Defense issues understandable.

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