War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence

by Ronan Farrow

Overview

A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and IndieBound bestseller

Finalist for the Colby Award

A new, revised and updated edition of a modern classic of foreign policy, a harrowing exploration of the collapse of American diplomacy and the abdication of global leadership, by the winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service.

US foreign policy is undergoing a dire transformation, forever changing America’s place in the world. Institutions of diplomacy and development are bleeding out after deep budget cuts; the diplomats who make America’s deals and protect its citizens around the world are walking out in droves. Offices across the State Department sit empty, while abroad the military-industrial complex has assumed the work once undertaken by peacemakers. We’re becoming a nation that shoots first and asks questions later.

In an astonishing journey from the corridors of power in Washington, DC, to some of the most remote and dangerous places on earth—Afghanistan, Somalia, and North Korea among them—acclaimed investigative journalist Ronan Farrow illuminates one of the most consequential and poorly understood changes in American history. His firsthand experience as a former State Department official affords a personal look at some of the last standard bearers of traditional statecraft, including Richard Holbrooke, who made peace in Bosnia and died while trying to do so in Afghanistan.

Drawing on recently unearthed documents, and richly informed by rare interviews with whistle-blowers, a warlord, and policymakers—including every living former secretary of state from Henry Kissinger to Hillary Clinton to Rex Tillerson—and now updated with revealing firsthand accounts from inside Donald Trump’s confrontations with diplomats during his impeachment and candid testimonials from officials in Joe Biden’s inner circle, War on Peace makes a powerful case for an endangered profession. Diplomacy, Farrow argues, has declined after decades of political cowardice, shortsightedness, and outright malice—but it may just offer America a way out of a world at war.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393356908
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	06/22/2021
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	206,859
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Ronan Farrow is an investigative journalist who writes for The New Yorker and makes documentaries for HBO. He has been an anchor and reporter at MSNBC and NBC News, and his writing has appeared in publications including The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. He is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the George Polk Award, and the National Magazine Award, among other commendations, and has been named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People. He is also an attorney and former State Department official. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Mahogany Row Massacre ix

Part I The Last Diplomats

1 American Myths 3

2 Lady Taliban 7

3 Dick 15

4 The Mango Case 21

5 The Other Haqqani Network 32

6 Duplicity 38

7 The Frat House 46

8 Mission: Impossible 53

9 Walking on Glass 68

10 Farmer Holbrooke 78

11 A Little Less Conversation 84

12 A-Rod 99

13 Promise Me You'll End The War 111

14 The Wheels Come Off The Bus 126

15 The Memo 137

16 The Real Thing 144

Part II Shoot First, Ask Questions Never

17 General Rule 155

18 Dostum: He Is Telling The Truth and Discouraging all Lies 164

19 White Beast 203

20 The Shortest Spring 222

21 Midnight At The Ranch 237

Part III Present at the Destruction

22 The State Of The Secretary 257

23 The Mosquito And The Sword 268

24 Meltdown 279

Epilogue: The Tool Of First Resort 295

Acknowledgments 311

Notes 315

Index 377

Editorial Reviews

"His wry voice and storytelling take work that is often grueling and dull and make it seem…vividly human."

The New York Times Book Review - Daniel Kurtz-Phelan

"Only someone as incisive and unflinching as Farrow could have written this book—and we should all be thankful that he did. A must-read."

Ian Bremmer

"A captivating insider account of the militarization of US foreign policy.... Farrow's book sometimes reads like a spy novel."

Global Policy Journal - Jonas Ecke

"A big rip-roaring argument about America giving up on diplomacy.... This book will make Ronan Farrow lots more enemies.... [H]e's got a bunch of new scoops."

The Rachel Maddow Show - Rachel Maddow

"Lively writing, astute commentary, and plenty of great stories, laced through with passion and outrage."

Rosa Brooks

"Has the United States turned its back on diplomacy, and on its diplomats? And if so, at what cost? Farrow makes a good case that we have, and that the cost will be high.... He captures extraordinarily well what the work of diplomacy means."

San Francisco Chronicle - Barbara K. Bodine

"With astonishing reporting and gripping prose, Ronan Farrow tells the powerful story of the gutting of American diplomacy…War on Peace is an indispensable and fascinating revelation of what diplomats actually do for our country and why undermining them is so dangerous. Farrow is a riveting storyteller with a great eye for colorful characters. This is one of the most important books of our time."

Walter Isaacson

05/07/2018
War has eclipsed diplomacy as the main instrument of U.S. foreign policy with dire consequences, according to this searching exposé of a crumbling State Department. New Yorker journalist Farrow, a former State Department official, examines the decadeslong waning of the department’s clout as its budgets were slashed and its diplomatic counsels ignored by presidents who pursued military solutions to global crises. The results, he argues, were disastrous. The U.S. backed brutal warlords in Afghanistan and rejected possible settlements with the Taliban; sponsored a counterinsurgency that killed countless civilians in Colombia; in Somalia supported warlords and an Ethiopian invasion against a relatively innocuous Islamic regime, sparking Islamist terrorism; and, in the Trump era, struggles with the damage from presidential policy-by-tweet. Farrow blends analysis with vivid reportage (his portrait of Afghan warlord Ahmed Rashid Dostum, in a palace furnished with reindeer, shark tank, and Christmas lights, is classic); his firsthand recollections of State Department icons, such as the brilliant, blustering Richard Holbrooke, make diplomacy feel colorful and dramatic rather than gray and polite. Farrow doesn’t quite demonstrate how diplomacy would succeed in quagmires like Afghanistan, but his indictment of the militarization of American foreign policy is persuasive. Photos. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"It's hard to imagine there is a single important diplomat Ronan Farrow didn't speak to in the course of reporting this remarkable account of American diplomacy in decline. This is no surprise: who better than a diplomat-turned-investigative-reporter to bring this deeply reported, acutely observed, and morally righteous chronicle of a nation that has all but abandoned diplomacy in favor of high-tech, high-ticket military action at just the perilous moment when steely and patient diplomacy is needed more than ever. This scoop-laden book is essential reading for those of us who yearn for peace and American moral leadership on a fractious planet."

Lydia Polgreen

"A compelling mixture of political analysis and personal anecdote."

The Guardian - Andrew Anthony

"Ronan Farrow has scooped us all (again). And it is no wonder. A gifted writer with a powerful intellect and a passion for truth, Farrow has become one of this generation’s finest journalists and War on Peace a book that will be required reading for generations to come. It is perhaps the most riveting and relatable book on foreign policy and diplomacy I have ever read. I have covered these same corridors of diplomatic power, these same bloody war zones, yet on every page of War on Peace I was astonished by what I learned."

Martha Raddatz

"A masterpiece….The writing sparkles."

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Dan Simpson

"Dogged research and persuasive argument....Farrow brings to his book astonishing access....[he is] an indefatigable and imaginative reporter."

The Globe and Mail - David Shribman

This timely audiobook is a warning: Because of deep cuts to the State Department and the change in the current administration’s focus concerning diplomacy, the United States is facing a crisis regarding its global power. Written by the winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Public Service, the audiobook draws on interviews with diplomats to make its case. Ronan Farrow also narrates his audiobook, and his pleasant, deep, nasal-tinged voice lends some credibility to the work. He differentiates his tone to create some characters, and he clearly knows how to phrase his own words. But overall Farrow reads too quickly and doesn’t pause enough to let his ideas sink in. The result is an important work—but one that may require listeners to hear some parts more than once. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

JULY 2018 - AudioFile

★ 2018-05-25
Nations deal with each other through trade and diplomacy—or war. Guess which one the current administration favors?"Diplomats perform many essential functions—" writes New Yorker contributor Farrow, perhaps best known for breaking the story of film executive Harvey Weinstein's long pattern of sexual depredations, "spiriting Americans out of crises, holding together developing economies, hammering out deals between governments." In the absence of diplomacy, the most likely alternative is war, and by the author's account, the tendency of American foreign policy since the George W. Bush administration has been militarized. (In this, he notes, the Obama administration is not blameless.) Farrow profiles many men and women who have spent time in Foggy Bottom, the headquarters of a State Department that has been all but emptied. Says former diplomat Tom Countryman, whereas in former transitions, "there were people who were knowledgeable about foreign affairs…who had experience in government," Donald Trump's team brought none of this to the table. Farrow contrasts this with the likes of Richard Holbrooke, Colin Powell, Hillary Clinton, and even the freelancing Joanne Herring, who helped convince Texan Charlie Wilson to push for funding for the mujahedeen—"in the view of some, laying the foundations for 9/11." In the vast vacuum between experience and what we have now—i.e., arrogance wedded to incuriosity and indifference—Farrow warns that "the balance of global diplomatic power is shifting." American diplomats may be missing from the conversation, but Chinese diplomats are everywhere winning influence for their country. The author's interlocutors warn that it might take years to rebuild the State Department, to say nothing of America's reputation; even Condoleezza Rice warns that the diminution of America's commitment to a democratic diplomatic mandate "would be a spectacularly bad idea."Excellent, wide-ranging reporting and sharp-edged analysis make this a book that's sure to be talked about inside the Beltway—and that deserves a wide audience beyond.

Kirkus Reviews