The Empty Throne, Ivo H. Daalder
The Empty Throne, Ivo H. Daalder
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

The Empty Throne
America's Abdication of Global Leadership

Author: Ivo H. Daalder, James M. Lindsay

Narrator: Jamie Renell

Unabridged: 8 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 10/16/2018


Synopsis

American diplomacy is in shambles, but beneath the daily chaos is an erosion of the postwar order that is even more dangerous.

America emerged from the catastrophe of World War II convinced that global engagement and leadership were essential to prevent another global conflict and further economic devastation. That choice was not inevitable, but its success proved monumental. It brought decades of great power peace, underpinned the rise in global prosperity, and defined what it meant to be an American in the eyes of the rest of the world for generations. It was an historic achievement.

Now, America has abdicated this vital leadership role. The Empty Throne is an inside portrait of the greatest lurch in US foreign policy since the decision to retreat back into Fortress America after World War I. The whipsawing of US policy has upended all that America's postwar leadership created-strong security alliances, free and open markets, an unquestioned commitment to democracy and human rights. Impulsive, theatrical, ill-informed, backward-looking, bullying, and reckless are the qualities that the American president brings to the table, when he shows up at all. The world has had to absorb the spectacle of an America unmaking the world it made, and the consequences will be with us for years to come.

Reviews

Goodreads review by David on July 31, 2018

The world is much less safe and far more uncertain, because the world’s premiere power has abandoned its position. That is basis of The Empty Throne, Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay’s new book. It is a stomach-churning recounting of all the many instances where Donald Trump ignored protocol, betrayed......more

Goodreads review by Emmet on April 15, 2024

I’ve developed a real disdain for the genre of books that are just different ways of saying “Trump was bad” but trying to disguise that statement within some grander thesis. This book fits squarely into that category. I picked it up because, based on the subtitle, I thought it would be a book that t......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on February 12, 2021

Brilliantly written. I have met James Lindsay at the University of Bonn in Germany when he presented this book to us Master students. Having written my MA thesis on a very similar topic and transatlantic relations in general, I can recommend this book to everyone who is interested in Trump's foreign......more

Goodreads review by Eric on December 05, 2018

In The Empty Throne, Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay highlight Trump's foreign policy successes while not pulling punches about his failures. Daalder and Lindsay present the US's foreign policy as a historical continuity from President Wilson and the League of Nations to Truman and the Marshall Plan t......more

Goodreads review by Andy on July 17, 2021

A conventional review of Trump's foreign policy decisions up to the Summer of 2018 by two very conventional, mainstream leaders of conventional foreign policy think tanks. Nothing very surprising or new, not many unique insights. Trump's decisions were bad for America's image and standing in the wor......more


Quotes

"A lively and authoritative account of the Trump administration's turbulent encounter with the outside world since the president took office in early 2017."—Gideon Rachman, Financial Times