As the sun shines on another summer season, our professors share their reading recommendations. Read their selection of fiction and non-fiction, classics and books covering topics such as espionage and justice, covert and intelligence operations, historical conflict, and current events shaping our world.
From Dr. Christopher C. Harmon, Former Director of Counterterrorism Studies Programs in Asia and Europe for the U.S. Government
Common Sense: The Origin and Design of Government, Thomas Paine. From Prof. Harmon: “For intellectual refreshment in the summer heat, I recommend Common Sense by Thomas Paine. It is flush with the good spirits of 1776—an antidote to today’s pessimism. And its English prose glitters and charms.“
From Professor Paul Schilling, who has served with the Central Intelligence Agency’s Office of General Counsel
Anonymous Soldiers: The Struggle for Israel 1917 – 1947, Bruce Hoffman. From Prof. Schilling: “This book is a history of the struggle in the 20th century between the Israelis and the Palestinians for control of Israel. It reviews in detail the various incidents that form the backdrop for today’s events.”
Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions That Changed the World 1940 – 1941, Ian Kershaw. From Prof. Schilling: “This book is an examination of the choices that world leaders were facing in the run up to World War II. The examination is useful not from a ‘what if’ perspective but from the deeper appreciation of the events that it offers to the reader.”
From Professor John Sano, Former Deputy Director of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service
The Ghost, The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton, Jefferson Morley. From Prof. Sano: “A well written treatise on the life and career of the most famous/infamous head of counterintelligence in the early years of the CIA’s existence.”
How to Stage a Coup, and Ten Other Lessons From the World of Secret Statecraft, Rory Cormac. From Prof. Sano: “A fascinating look into the ‘dark arts of statecraft,’ specifically the CIA’s use of Covert Action — with interesting case studies and well-presented explanations.”
First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA Mission to Avenge 9/11, Toby Harnden. From Prof. Sano: “A riveting account of the first boots on the ground in Afghanistan after the towers fell on 9/11.”
From Professor Anne Rathbone Bradley, Former Economic Analyst for the CIA’s Office of Terrorism Analysis
The Road to Socialism and Back: An Economic History of Poland, 1939-2019, Peter J. Boettke, Konstantin Zhukov, and Matthew Mitchell. From Prof. Bradley: “Many thought that after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the demise of the Soviet Union, the battle of ideas was over, and it was the end of history. Yet today many are flirting with so-called democratic socialism as a more egalitarian way to manage an economy, thus proving that the battle of ideas rages on. Boettke, Zhukov, and Mitchell provide a detailed case study of Poland’s road to socialism and its subsequent fight for freedom. The Polish experience offers concrete examples of why we should not repeat socialism’s mistakes; it also demonstrates the stark contrast between the promises of socialism and its grim realities.”
Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet, Marian L. Tupy and Gale L. Pooley. From Prof. Bradley: “A rags-to-riches story for the entire planet doesn’t come along every day—yet here it is. There is so much good news around us, yet we remain mired in trendy apocalyptic stories of gloom and doom. While there are always problems, there is still much to celebrate, and, remarkably, things can get even better! This book upends the tired, false narrative that we must curb population growth to save the planet, when in fact the opposite is true. Human beings are the source of human capital, the most important kind, and unleashing human creativity allows us to flourish. We’ve escaped the stark zero-sum games of history and now live in a healthier and wealthier world. This is not just a feel-good story; it’s powered by the empirical realities of how far we have come and how much farther we can go if we get institutions—and the ideas that inspire them—right. Abundance today and in the future means we need population growth and economic freedom.”
From Professor Dennis Teti, Former Senior Advisor with the House Budget Committee; Former consultant for the House Financial Services Committee
Come Nineveh, Come Tyre: The Presidency of Edward Jason (Advise and Consent), Allen Dury & The Promise of Joy: The Presidency of Orrin Knox (Advise and Consent), Allen Dury.
From Prof. Teti:
Anyone with an interest in national security and domestic politics should take a break and pick up these two mid-1970s potboilers…and I dare you to try to put them down before you finish. Drury was the author of Advise and Consent, the Pulitzer Prize winning first in his thrilling cycle of six or seven “Washington novels.”
These two recommendations are alternative conclusions to the cycle. Their politics, reflecting the reality of the 1960s and 70s, are ugly, riotous, and violence-prone. At the end of the prior volume, a coalition ticket had conjoined a conservative Reaganesque presidential candidate with a leftish Ted Kennedyesque vice-presidential running mate. Appearing together for the first time with their wives, one candidate and the other’s spouse are assassinated. But which?
Lurking in Drury’s global arena are the Soviet Union and Communist China, growing in complex power relationships of mutual competition together with common threats to the U.S., a world pockmarked by regional wars and disputes in real and imagined countries of the sort we are familiar with. Drury interweaves these ongoing global and national events with the devious reportage of biased, self-important commentators, left- and right-wing radical organizations, and weak opportunistic politicians. He also reminds us that the American political order is not devoid of men and women of honor, patriotism, and self-sacrifice. Drury is sober, humorous, and anxious but neither patronizing nor cynical.
In the first, the liberal vice-presidential candidate survives assassination and is elected president. In the second, the conservative presidential candidate survives and is elected. So these two novels offer sharply contrasting accounts of the result for domestic affairs and, more importantly, the nation’s security of their respective presidencies, the ends of which are startling if not entirely unpredictable. The political world is subject to powers and accidents beyond our control which may determine our fate; yet sound policy and prudence, courage and personal character may make the difference between independence and defeat.
These 50-year-old novels are remarkably fresh as political upheaval has returned to haunt our land. In this presidential election summer, take a break and read these two exciting tales about the responsibilities and consequences of American self-rule.
From Professor John J. Quattrocki, Former Vice President, CACI’s National Intelligence Solutions Group; Former Senior Executive on the National Security Council Staff
The Human Factor, Graham Greene. From Prof. Quattrocki: “First, read everything by Graham Greene. He is one of the great 20th century authors in the English language. The Human Factor also provides the best fictional narrative backdrop to the challenge of Intel operations and the counterintelligence obligations which must accompany them.”
The Imperial Presidency, Arthur Schlesinger. From Prof. Quattrocki: “Relevant and fascinating when it was written, it remains as compelling a “read” today as it was then … and probably more relevant. The Constitution has a built-in tension between the role of Congress and the role of the President when addressing national security issues. For more than two centuries, that tension has defied a permanent resolution and the 1.5-mile turf battle since WWII has led to a progressively generous and expansive interpretation of the President’s Article II authorities as Commander-in-Chief. Schlesinger addresses the state of play up to 1973, when he published his book. However, far from being out of date, Presidency’s ‘age’ provides a compelling distance to the narrative for the current generation(s.)”
Present at the Creation, Dean Acheson. From Prof. Quattrocki: “While the United States was last among the Great Powers to establish a formal peacetime Intelligence Community, it was the first to establish the modern national security deliberative process. When the Congress established the NSC, the President — for the first time — could avail himself in an orderly and comprehensive fashion of every strength of the government’s national security capabilities and to do so in an orderly and comprehensive fashion. Acheson tells us an important part of the story about how we got there.”
Invitation to an Inquest, Walter and Miriam Schneir. From Prof. Quattrocki:
An earnest and good faith narrative about the Government’s investigation, prosecution, and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
However, in its premise, it is also incorrect.
Published in 1983, more than a decade before declassification of the “VENONA Project,” Inquest explicitly attempts to discredit the government’s motivation and outcome by citing antisemitism at all levels of the Executive and Judicial branches.
It is an important book because it demonstrates how authors and publishers both can manufacture a seemingly objective and good-faith research framework by which they can come to a preferred outcome … in this case, their explicitly imputed innocence of a husband and wife (the Rosenbergs) whom the government executed in 1953 for espionage.
However, so convinced were the Schneirs of the government’s perfidy, they give little evidence they worried there was a body of facts yet discovered or revealed which might challenge their precepts and conclusions.
When the government turned over the final card with the declassification and disclosure of VENONA in 1995, the premise to Inquest was challenged.
The Schneirs responded by writing yet another book in 2010, Final Verdict: What Really Happened in the Rosenberg Case, by which they correct substantial parts of their original story.
The original book is important for the national security professional because it cautions that reader to understand that none of the published works in our line of work may be counted on to be wholly correct or truthful … no matter how well or compellingly written.
… read not cynically but skeptically … always.
Final Report of the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Book II, United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee To Activities. From Prof. Quattrocki: “Just, always.”
From Prof. Aaron Danis, Former Senior Analyst with the U.S. Government, Former U.S. Army Intelligence Officer
“I’d be happy if our students read the news every day.”
From Dr. Marek Chodakiewicz, Professor of History, The Kosciuszko Chair in Polish Studies, Director of the Center for Intermarium Studies
The Man Who Was Thursday, G.K. Chesterton.
From Dr. John J. Tierney, Jr., Professor Emeritus; Former Special Assistant and Foreign Affairs Officer, U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
The C. S. Lewis Signature Classics: An Anthology of 8 C. S. Lewis Titles, C.S. Lewis.
- Mere Christianity
- The Screwtape Letters
- The Great Divorce
- The Problem of Pain
- Miracles
- A Grief Observed
- Abolition of Man
- The Four Loves
