Grand Strategies in War and Peace by Paul M. KennedyReview by: Gregory F. TrevertonForeign Affairs, Vol. 70, No. 4 (Fall, 1991), p. 169Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20044926 .

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RECENT BOOKS 169

succumbed to the opposite fallacy, assuming political intentions were

paramount and, in Bernadotte Schmidt's words, "the details of military preparations.

. . are of small consequence." The sketches look hard at whether decisions in particular instances were influenced by, for instance, trends in the strategic balance as a strategist might see them; admirably, they let the chips fall where they may.

GRAND STRATEGIES IN WAR AND PEACE. Edited by Paul M. Kennedy. New Haven (CT): Yale University Press, 1991, 228 pp. $25.00.

Grand strategy?looking beyond military strategy to the political and economic setting of national purpose?was making a comeback before the Cold War ended, pushed by writers as different as Michael Howard and Edward Luttwak. This volume's authors are distinguished and their

subjects range from the Roman empire to the Soviet Union. Kennedy's own

chapter specifies the conclusion about the United States prefigured in his The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: "It simply is not a sensible strategy to have the leading power of the Western World resting upon financial and industrial foundations that are increasingly less competitive international

ly. . . while that same nation has retained (indeed expanded).

. . military

and political commitments."

NATIONAL SERVICE: PRO AND CON. Edited by Williamson M. Evers. Stanford (CA): Stanford University Press, 1990, 269

pp. $14.95 (paper). As the Cold War's wane reduces the need for military manpower, the

debate over national service will diminish apace, but it probably should not. As with most issues of public policy, there is more to national service than meets the eye, as this thorough collection of analyses and commentaries

demonstrates, and as Evers' introduction clearly lays out. The sides in the debate are disarmingly mixed up: most free-market conservatives, like

Milton Friedman or Martin Anderson, oppose national service, but the idea is endorsed by those communitarian conservatives (and welfare-state

liberals) who hope to recreate a sense of community in American life.

CONGRESS AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS. By James M. Lindsay. Balti more (MD): The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991, 205 pp.

This careful examination of how Congress reaches decisions on major nuclear systems, including a clutch of specific case studies, comes to a conclusion that is a welcome antidote: "pork"?jobs in one's district?

matters, and Congress gives presidents what they ask for, if they are

determined; yet substance also counts. Indeed, "what best explains con

gressional decision making are the personal policy preferences of individ ual members."

UNITED GERMANY AND THE UNITED STATES. By Michael A. Freney and Rebecca S. Hartley. Washington: National Planning Associa tion, 1991, 178 pp. $17.50 (paper).

Reflecting the old adage about writing a long letter because there was no time for a short one, the authors have taken the time to write a short

primer, insightful and packed with information, including 50 pages of

chronologies and documents.

BEYOND THE THAW: A NEW NATIONAL STRATEGY. By S. J. Deitchman. Boulder (CO): Westview Press, 1991, 258 pp. $49.95 (paper, $17.95).

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