Announcing the Publication of a Book

 

BookCoverFor the last six years, I have been working steadily – with increasing fervor – on a series of books focused on classical Lacedaemon and on the grand strategy that the Spartans articulated for the defense of that polity’s ruling order. The first of these volumes – The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta: The Persian Challenge – will formally be released by Yale University Press this coming Tuesday.

Amazon has been shipping copies now for something like three weeks, and yesterday the book received its first review in an online publication based in the United Arab Emirates, hitherto unknown to me, called The National. That review I found heartening – for it was not only accurate in its description of the work. It actually caught my drift. Maybe, just maybe, thought I, the book will find its intended audience.

When one writes a book one has high hopes, but it is good also to entertain low expectations. My aim in the series of works that I am writing is to counter what I consider the surrealism of the doctrine that calls itself Realism. The exponents of “Realism” presume that all political communities are essentially the same. They are “state actors” intent on maximizing power, and the conduct of these “state actors” can, so they suppose, easily be predicted. For they are, you see, “rational actors” as well.

I think this set of presumptions mad, and I regard making them a basis for policy as positively dangerous. I would agree with their proponents that all political communities are concerned with their own security, and that this in turn means that one can with some ease track one of their chief motives. But I would argue that “Realism” takes the part for the whole when it abstracts from the question of regime. State actors are not “black boxes.” Each has its own character, and that character is determined by its regime – i.e., by the distribution and disposition of offices and honors that distinguishes its ruling order from that of its potential adversaries. To abstract from its regime, to ignore the imperatives that arise from the peculiarities of its ruling order, is to don blinders. They focus one’s attention, to be sure, but they do so at the price of preventing one from seeing much of profound importance that is going on.

My new book is not, however, as abstract in its argument as this blogpost. It aims to attack the shibboleths of “Realism” by showing what ought to be obvious to common sense – that the grand strategy articulated by the Spartans, that articulated by the Achaemenid kings of Persia, and that articulated by the Athenians had a great deal to do with their domestic arrangements. For, in the diplomatic sphere and on the field of the sword, each was both defending its way of and asserting the superiority of that way of life. To put it simply, in foreign affairs, honor is as important as material interest.

Here, I will offer a single example. To make sense of Xerxes’ invasion of Greece just under 2495 years ago, one must attend to the fact that the Achaemenid monarchs were Zoroastrians of a sort, that they justified their rule as a species of service to Ahura Mazda, and that it was their duty to extend the realm of that great god and to eliminate the realm of his antagonist, the dark lord Ahriman. Xerxes’ invasion was, in short, the first jihad, and this meant that the Great King of Persia was to a considerable degree impervious to the calculations that the so-called “Realists” suppose every statesman constrained by.

If you want to understand what it was that caused Barack Obama to get us into the godawful mess we now find ourselves in, you need only attend to the fact that he is a “Realist” and that he stubbornly entertains foolish notions that one must spend a great many years in the world of American higher education to fully imbibe. To be precise, his calculations are predicated on the presumption that regime imperatives do not matter and that Russia, Iran, and China are all what the “Realists” call “rational actors” – soberly seeking power maximization. I would suggest that no one who knows anything about Russia, Iran, and China domestically would suppose anything of the sort.

Perhaps, however, something good will come from this insane experiment. Perhaps, we in America will have a generation or two of Presidents who eschew “Realism” and pay attention to the cultural and political character of our rivals. After all, an ounce of common sense is worth more than a host of years spent studying “political science.”

Published in History, Literature
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  1. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Congratulations and good luck.

    • #1
  2. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    I’ll be placing an order. Fascinating stuff!

    • #2
  3. Xennady Member
    Xennady
    @

    I just bought a copy from Amazon, along with some light bulb adapters.

    Congrats and good luck from me also.

    • #3
  4. Look Away Inactive
    Look Away
    @LookAway

    Received the book last week. A beautifully crafted book. Looking forward to finishing it. Thanks for your hard work.

    • #4
  5. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    Congratulations!

    • #5
  6. Clavius Thatcher
    Clavius
    @Clavius

    I am looking forward to reading it, having just ordered my Kindle copy. I need to finish Polybius’s “The Rise of the Roman Empire” first. I will also put it in front of Donald Kagan’s series on the Pelopennessian war as this would be good background for that reading. I do love ancient history.

    • #6
  7. twvolck Inactive
    twvolck
    @twvolck

    Good luck with the sales.  I wonder, though, about Zoroastrian compulsion to extend Ahura Mazda’s rule over the rest of the world where Ahriman might be worshipped.  Mary Boice maintained that Zoroastrians did not consider that speakers of non Persian languages were allowed to become Zoroastrians.  Medes, Parthians, Sarmatians, Ossetians, Kurds, yes, but Greeks, no.

    There seems to have been little pressure on Jewish inhabitants of the Persian Empire to convert.  Of course, conversion might not, in the Persian view, have  been necessary if the supreme rulers were Zoroastrians.

    • #7
  8. Paul A. Rahe Member
    Paul A. Rahe
    @PaulARahe

    twvolck:Good luck with the sales. I wonder, though, about Zoroastrian compulsion to extend Ahura Mazda’s rule over the rest of the world where Ahriman might be worshipped. Mary Boice maintained that Zoroastrians did not consider that speakers of non Persian languages were allowed to become Zoroastrians. Medes, Parthians, Sarmatians, Ossetians, Kurds, yes, but Greeks, no.

    There seems to have been little pressure on Jewish inhabitants of the Persian Empire to convert. Of course, conversion might not, in the Persian view, have been necessary if the supreme rulers were Zoroastrians.

    As far as I can tell, conversion was not the aim. Bringing order to the world as dictated by Ahura Mazda was. One needs to recognize that today’s Zoroastrianism is as distinct from the Zoroastrianism of Darius and Xerxes as today’s Christianity is from that of the first century A.D.

    • #8
  9. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    My family screams bloody murder when they catch me with my nose in a brand new book this close to Christmas. It will go on the list, but I’ll tell them to buy it right away.

    • #9
  10. Dick from Brooklyn Thatcher
    Dick from Brooklyn
    @DickfromBrooklyn

    Ordering now. Congratulations.

    • #10
  11. Instugator Thatcher
    Instugator
    @Instugator

    $24 for an ebook?!? Yale needs to get with the program. Hardcover I can see, but apparently the Yale folks don’t value the carbon-savings of ebooks to encourage the purchase of them.

    Next time get the Rico-editors to help out and self publish – but unless I get a pretty gift card for Christmas – nah probably not even then.

    Best of luck with the sales.

    • #11
  12. Could be Anyone Inactive
    Could be Anyone
    @CouldBeAnyone

    I don’t know if I would call a Zoroastrian Holy War to be the same as Jihad (at least in the practical effects of the Holy War). The Aechamenid Persians had after all experienced a great degree of success in their conquests and were far more tolerant than the Islamic Caliphate ever was (I would argue the Persians from the Aechamenids to the Sassanids had more permanent structures of governance), not to mention the fact that they had at least attempted a degree of stabilization that Islam never really had. There was a reason why many intelligent Greek Philosophers from Heraclitus to Plato had interchanges and studied in Persian controlled territories. An example being Plato and his years in Egypt or the fact that such philosophers came to conceptions of monotheistic Gods (with great variation I admit) against the cultural polytheism of Greece.

    I do agree with your thesis though. Realism as a foreign policy theory simplifies issues by focusing on maximization of national interest, almost assuming a kind of Utilitarian school of thought. Such ignores the many considerations that a nation has from natural resources to immigration to religion and how they compete with one another; let alone the fact that differing parties can take over across time and change the national interest(s) to a degree.

    Best of luck with sales and perhaps you may cause a Paradigm shift….

    • #12
  13. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Paul A. Rahe: …as today’s Christianity is from that of the first century A.D.

    Well, some of us consider ourselves First Century Christians.

    • #13
  14. John Hendrix Thatcher
    John Hendrix
    @JohnHendrix

    Your book is going into my Amazon cart, stat.  It looks good.

    Perhaps, however, something good will come from this insane experiment.

    Insane experiment is one way to put it. I’ve always thought of Obama’s foreign policy as akin to a destruction test.

    • #14
  15. Pseudodionysius Inactive
    Pseudodionysius
    @Pseudodionysius

    St. James, The Moor Slayer sends his kindest regards.

    • #15
  16. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Congratulations.  Sounds like a good one for my reading list.

    And besides, anybody who puts “political science” in sneer quotes can’t be all bad.

    • #16
  17. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    So, Doc, how would one get an autographed copy for a Marine?

    • #17
  18. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    How would one get an autographed copy for Hillsdale President’s Club members?  That would be RB and Ray.  I know this is something we’d both love to read.

    • #18
  19. BrentB67 Inactive
    BrentB67
    @BrentB67

    Congratulations Sir.

    • #19
  20. Paul A. Rahe Member
    Paul A. Rahe
    @PaulARahe

    EJHill:So, Doc, how would one get an autographed copy for a Marine?

    Send me a copy, tell me to whom I should address it and where I should send it.

    • #20
  21. Paul A. Rahe Member
    Paul A. Rahe
    @PaulARahe

    RushBabe49:How would one get an autographed copy for Hillsdale President’s Club members? That would be RB and Ray. I know this is something we’d both love to read.

    Write to John Cervini at the college.

    • #21
  22. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    That’s all I need another “must read”   I’ll never catch up.

    • #22
  23. Manfred Arcane Inactive
    Manfred Arcane
    @ManfredArcane

    I skimmed the excerpts offered at Amazon and discovered that you are a heck of a writer.  Looks really well done.

    I agree though with the previous comment that the ebook price is too high.  I will try and remember to come back and buy this when that price has dropped.

    • #23
  24. Richard Fulmer Inactive
    Richard Fulmer
    @RichardFulmer

    Xennady:I just bought a copy from Amazon, along with some light bulb adapters.

    May both be enlightening.

    • #24
  25. Manfred Arcane Inactive
    Manfred Arcane
    @ManfredArcane

    Wondered, in passing, if the Reconquista wouldn’t be a good subject matter for your next book.  Throw in Charles Martel and the Battles of Tours, Malta, and Lepanto, and the saga of El Cid, with sidelights on the Knights Templar, the Crusades, the Siege of Vienna and the prior exertions of Belisarius, etc. and it would all fit together and really mesh with the times.  All kinds of goodness in one package.  Possible title: “The Grand Strategy of the Reconquista’.  (It sort of feels like we are engaged in our own version of Reconquista today doesn’t it?)

    • #25
  26. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Manfred Arcane: (It sort of feels like we are engaged in our own version of Reconquista today doesn’t it?)

    Same war, different century.

    • #26
  27. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    You didn’t tell us it was available on audio.  (Or will be in two days.)  I’ve added it to my audible.com library.

    (Occasionally I buy paper copies of books after I’ve listened to them, if I think I want to check the footnotes and illustrations or otherwise use them as a reference.)

    • #27
  28. Instugator Thatcher
    Instugator
    @Instugator

    I have a few audible credits I need to burn – there is a solution. (Too bad the IQ book isn’t available on audible as well).

    Thanks TR for the pointer!

    • #28
  29. Paul A. Rahe Member
    Paul A. Rahe
    @PaulARahe

    Manfred Arcane:Wondered, in passing, if the Reconquista wouldn’t be a good subject matter for your next book. Throw in Charles Martel and the Battles of Tours, Malta, and Lepanto, and the saga of El Cid, with sidelights on the Knights Templar, the Crusades, the Siege of Vienna and the prior exertions of Belisarius, etc. and it would all fit together and really mesh with the times. All kinds of goodness in one package. Possible title: “The Grand Strategy of the Reconquista’. (It sort of feels like we are engaged in our own version of Reconquista today doesn’t it?)

    I know far too little. I am halfway through The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta: The Athenian Challenge, however.

    • #29
  30. Instugator Thatcher
    Instugator
    @Instugator

    How is that the Audio version is cheaper than the ebook – this makes no sense at ALL.

    • #30
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