Gulliver's Troubles

In Swift’s allegory, the sleeping Gulliver awoke to discover himself firmly tethered by Lilliputians. In Stanley Hoffman’s Gulliver's Troubles, or the Setting of American Foreign Policy, American diplomacy is seen in similar straits and urged to wake up to the unpleasant new realities. Our policymakers, he says, are not justified in responding to every international probe as a mortal threat. By itself, military might has ceased to guarantee diplomatic achievements. America’s frustrations, he says, are increased by the nature of its political style and institutions. Still, there is a way for America to overcome those frustrations. And the balance of this 556-page hardbound book explains that. It’s a book that should not be ignored!