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> I recommend Daniel Yergin's The Prize (1991)... I'd like to learn about realpolitik. Henry Kissinger, Jean Kirkpatrick, etc. Much as I despise that world vi

> I recommend Daniel Yergin's The Prize (1991)... I'd like to learn about realpolitik. Henry Kissinger, Jean Kirkpatrick, etc. Much as I despise that world view, I'm not sure they're wrong. At the very least, I'd like to understand them better. Like how the Know Your Enemy podcast surveys modern conservativism. https://www.patreon.com/knowyourenemy https://www.patreon.com/knowyourenemy I've got some books about Kissinger in my queue. I figure I'd start there. Other recommendations?

dredmorbius 5y ago
Not especially. I likewise find the PoV unsavory, though ... pragmatic. Yergin's general philosophy (and enthusiastic boosterism of the oil industry) is not my own viewpoint, but his storytelling and knowledge are excellent. Discover enough about the field, however, and the bits he skips over become apparent. The bits he covers, however, are valuable. Manfred Weissenbacher's Sources of Power (note that this is in two volumes, catalogue listings vary in including both) is similar to Smil's works on energy/history, but focuses far more on the political dimensions and their relationship to the power (physical and political) afforded through energy regimes. It becomes increasingly polemical as it approaches the present, possibly with strong justification. https://www.worldcat.org/title/sources-of-power-how-energy-forges-human-history/oclc/416715097&referer=brief_results https://www.worldcat.org/title/sources-of-power-how-energy-f... First volume -- before oil: https://www.worldcat.org/title/before-oil-the-ages-of-foraging-agriculture-and-coal/oclc/837625798 https://www.worldcat.org/title/before-oil-the-ages-of-foragi... Second volume --- oil and beyond: https://www.worldcat.org/title/oil-age-and-beyond/oclc/837625970 https://www.worldcat.org/title/oil-age-and-beyond/oclc/83762... What really emerges from all three authors --- Yergin, Smil, and Weissenbacher, is how absolutely transformational the oil age proved to be. It is liquid power in every sense of that word. On politics, I've been looking at James C. Scott (Seeing Like a State), Francis Fukuyama (Origins of Political Order https://www.worldcat.org/title/origins-of-political-order-from-prehuman-times-to-the-french-revolution/oclc/1030767687 https://www.worldcat.org/title/origins-of-political-order-fr...), John Kenneth Galbraith (see his Anatomy of Power https://www.worldcat.org/title/anatomy-of-power/oclc/1087969637 https://www.worldcat.org/title/anatomy-of-power/oclc/1087969...). I'm familiar with Realpolitik as a term. There's the related "geopolitics" which arises out of German doctrine, and borrows heavily from principles of the use of naval power. That, if I'm recalling correctly, traces to Alfred Thayer Mahan's treatise on sea power: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Thayer_Mahan#Sea_power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Thayer_Mahan#Sea_power Otherwise, this is an area I'm mostly fumbling around in. Appreciate the podcast recommendation. In exchange, Neal Conan's swan song might also be of interest, "Truth, Politics, and Power". I'm not sure it covers quite the same topic though it's own I've been meaning to listen to. https://exchange.prx.org/series/37658-truth-politics-and-power https://exchange.prx.org/series/37658-truth-politics-and-pow...

dredmorbius 5y ago

Not especially. I likewise find the PoV unsavory, though ... pragmatic. Yergin's general philosophy (and enthusiastic boosterism of the oil industry) is not my own viewpoint, but his storytelling and knowledge are excellent. Discover enough about the field, however, and the bits he skips over become apparent. The bits he covers, however, are valuable. Manfred Weissenbacher's Sources of Power (note that this is in two volumes, catalogue listings vary in including both) is similar to Smil's works on energy/history, but focuses far more on the political dimensions and their relationship to the power (physical and political) afforded through energy regimes. It becomes increasingly polemical as it approaches the present, possibly with strong justification. https://www.worldcat.org/title/sources-of-power-how-energy-forges-human-history/oclc/416715097&referer=brief_results https://www.worldcat.org/title/sources-of-power-how-energy-f... First volume -- before oil: https://www.worldcat.org/title/before-oil-the-ages-of-foraging-agriculture-and-coal/oclc/837625798 https://www.worldcat.org/title/before-oil-the-ages-of-foragi... Second volume --- oil and beyond: https://www.worldcat.org/title/oil-age-and-beyond/oclc/837625970 https://www.worldcat.org/title/oil-age-and-beyond/oclc/83762... What really emerges from all three authors --- Yergin, Smil, and Weissenbacher, is how absolutely transformational the oil age proved to be. It is liquid power in every sense of that word. On politics, I've been looking at James C. Scott (Seeing Like a State), Francis Fukuyama (Origins of Political Order https://www.worldcat.org/title/origins-of-political-order-from-prehuman-times-to-the-french-revolution/oclc/1030767687 https://www.worldcat.org/title/origins-of-political-order-fr...), John Kenneth Galbraith (see his Anatomy of Power https://www.worldcat.org/title/anatomy-of-power/oclc/1087969637 https://www.worldcat.org/title/anatomy-of-power/oclc/1087969...). I'm familiar with Realpolitik as a term. There's the related "geopolitics" which arises out of German doctrine, and borrows heavily from principles of the use of naval power. That, if I'm recalling correctly, traces to Alfred Thayer Mahan's treatise on sea power: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Thayer_Mahan#Sea_power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Thayer_Mahan#Sea_power Otherwise, this is an area I'm mostly fumbling around in. Appreciate the podcast recommendation. In exchange, Neal Conan's swan song might also be of interest, "Truth, Politics, and Power". I'm not sure it covers quite the same topic though it's own I've been meaning to listen to. https://exchange.prx.org/series/37658-truth-politics-and-power https://exchange.prx.org/series/37658-truth-politics-and-pow...