LT Title of Book, Author, Publisher, year of publication, dates I read/studied book
Recommended by [if anybody], Where is hard copy?

Theme:
Type:
Value:
Age:
Interest:
Objectionable:
Synopsis/Noteworthy:
32 George Keenan Cold War doctrine
43 end of Cold War
46 R2P UN Resolution Responsibility to Protect, to intervene in the internal affairs of another nation under certain conditions
57 liberal world order Richard Haas solution 253, 257
63 numbers within religions
112 more than 3/4ths of Muslims are non Arab
113 Germany's economy
117 Ottoman to European rule
120 UN Security Resolution 242
137 the poor
143 country size
157 globalization is a reality not a policy preference
164 global governance versus government
169 most terrorists located in the mMiddle East
180 irrationality 36
183-6 climate change X
258 nation defined 289
286 dollars on armaments
302 world peace

This is a shallow history, which I expected from what the author wrote about the book, and I read it to find weak spots in my knowledge of history that this book might enlighten. It did, but there were not many of those spots, so mostly it was light reading or subjects with which I was familiar. ( )

I was a happy camper reading this tome until I got to Part III, which covers the future. It this point, I found the text drab, stilted, and uninteresting, as if Part III was written by Captain Obvious. DNF. ( )

The title is accurate. The World, A BRIEF INTRODUCTION. Definitely gave me some good info and direction for further reading. If you expect to learn everything about the world in less than 400 pages of content, good luck.

After watching Richard on his many appearances on MSNBC Morning Joe, I was interested in seeing what he'd write about in this book. The problem- my fault- is that I'm not exactly sure what I expected to get out of this book. However, for a hint, again, see the book title.

I like the way he organized the book (historic eras, regions of the world, global issues we face, and order/ disorder).

You might not pick up anything extraordinarily new when you read this, but it might help you (me) determine what subjects/details you would like to study further!

I toggled between 3 and 4 stars. Still like this guy and will continue listening, and reading, what he has to say...
( )

This book provides a useful overview of the world today and the challenges that we face. For me, I was familiar with most of the history that Haass presented in the book. The book was useful to me in that the author added some analysis and color to the facts, statistics and data he provided.

I agree with those reviewers who find that this would be a useful book for a high school and college students who are not familiar with world history, economics, geography and politics. But given the lack of knowledge shown by all age groups, this is an easy to read book that everyone can read.

Most books like this are complex, hard to understand and assumes a prior state of knowledge that a reader may not have. This book does not talk down to its readers. It's not intended to convince the reader of a particular point of view – – it's meant to provide information as impartially as possible.

There were two takeaways regarding challenges this country faces and the author presents them very well below:

All of this also requires that the United States get its own house in order – – reducing government debt, augmenting pandemic preparedness, reining in gun violence, reducing opioid abuse, rebuilding infrastructure, improving public education, investing more in basic research, adapting and expanding the social safety net, adopting a smart immigration system that allows talented foreigners to come and stay, healing the racial divide, ushering in police reform, and tackling the many manifestations of political dysfunction.

The real question going forward is whether the United States can recoup its reputation for reliability and restore the faith of its allies or whether there will be lingering doubts given the country's increasingly inward focus and its deepening political divisions, as underscored by the violence at the US capital on January 6, 2021.

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