Audio only

The Big Stick

The Limits of Soft Power and the Necessity of Military ForceBy Eliot A. CohenNarrated by Bill Thatcher
Length9h 9m

About this audiobook

“Speak softly and carry a big stick” Theodore Roosevelt famously said in 1901, when the United States was emerging as a great power. It was the right sentiment, perhaps, in an age of imperial rivalry. But today many Americans doubt the utility of their global military presence, thinking it outdated, unnecessary, or even dangerous. In The Big Stick, Eliot A. Cohen—a scholar and practitioner of international relations—disagrees. He argues that hard power remains essential for American foreign policy. While acknowledging that the United States must be careful about why, when, and how it uses force, he insists that its international role is as critical as ever, and armed force is vital to that role. Cohen explains that American leaders must learn to use hard power in new ways and for new circumstances. The rise of a well-armed China, Russia’s conquest of Crimea and eastern Ukraine, nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran, and the spread of radical Islamist movements like ISIS are some of the key threats to global peace. If the United States relinquishes its position as a strong but prudent military power and fails to accept its role as the guardian of a stable world order, we run the risk of unleashing disorder, violence, and tyranny on a scale not seen since the 1930s. The United States is still, as Madeleine Albright once dubbed it, “the indispensable nation.”

Audiobook details

Rating★★★★ 4.0 (657)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, LibraryThing, StoryGraph
GenrePolitics and Government
Length9 hrs 9 mins
Narrated byBill Thatcher
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateDec 27, 2016
LanguageEnglish

More from Eliot A. Cohen

HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m4.6 (10.8K)$24 · $0.00
KrantikariSanjeev Sanyal11h 44m4.6 (1.3K)$16 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m4.6 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
RiggedMollie Hemingway12h 48m4.6 (4.2K)$23 · $0.00
SledgehammerDavid Friedman8h 21m4.7 (589)$26 · $0.00
Citizenship in a Republic (Annotated)Theodore Roosevelt2h 44m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
No EscapeNury Turkel9h 30m4.6 (809)$28 · $0.00
Always FaithfulThomas Schueman, Zainullah Zaki12h 12m4.6 (977)$29 · $0.00
UnthinkableJamie Raskin15h 8m4.5 (9.3K)$8 · $0.00
My Fourth Time, We DrownedSally Hayden13h 59m4.6 (2.9K)$23 · $0.00
A Revolution of Common SenseScott Jennings9h 29m4.6 (528)$29 · $0.00
Statement From the Dock at the Rivonia TrialNelson Mandela2h 18m4.6 (1.3K)$1 · $0.00
Lessons from the EdgeMarie Yovanovitch17h 11m4.5 (5.9K)$40 · $0.00
To Rescue the American SpiritBret Baier10h 12m4.5 (2.7K)$8 · $0.00
StonewalledSharyl Attkisson15h 19m4.5 (4.3K)$33 · $0.00
The World According to Orwell: 1984 & Animal FarmGeorge Orwell15h 42m4.6 (1.1K)$1 · $0.00
Basic EconomicsThomas Sowell18h 32m4.5 (29.3K)$28 · $0.00
To Rescue the RepublicBret Baier, Catherine Whitney11h 42m4.5 (8.6K)$29 · $0.00

You may also like

Disunited NationsPeter Zeihan16h 7m4.3 (5.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Paradox of JamestownChristopher Collier, James Lincoln Collier1h 43m4.1 (476)$15
Some Principles of Maritime StrategyJulian Stafford Corbett11h 19m4.2 (385)$1 · $0.00
Our Dollar, Your ProblemKenneth Rogoff12h 57m4.2 (984)$25
Uncontrolled SpreadScott Gottlieb15h 36m4.2 (2.5K)$33 · $0.00
To Govern the GlobeAlfred W. McCoy5h 4m4.4 (420)$25 · $0.00
War on the WatersJames M. McPherson8h 55m4.1 (1.4K)$20
Fulton's "Steam Battery": Blockship and CatamaranHoward Irving Chapelle2h 25m$1 · $0.00
Aircraft and SubmarinesWillis J. Abbot12h 45m4.1 (18)$2.30
Unarmoured shipsThomas Allnutt Brassey1h 5m$1 · $0.00
Commander Matthew Fontaine MauryRichard Launcelot Maury1h 4m$2 · $0.00
Binge TimesDade Hayes, Dawn Chmielewski12h 24m3.8 (525)$29 · $0.00
Tactics, Volume 1 (of 2), Introduction and Formal Tactics of InfrantryWilliam Balck19h 55m$2.30
Submarines, Mines and Torpedoes in the WarCharles W. Domville-Fife3h 14m$2 · $0.00
Battle Of Plataea, August 479 BcAndré Geraque Kiffer1h 10m$5 · $0.00
The Submarine in War and Peace: Its Development and its PossibilitiesSimon Lake10h 46m$1 · $0.00
The Navy as a Fighting MachineBradley A. Fiske7h 45m3.6 (24)$1 · $0.00
Never OutmatchedLee Pepper5h 5m$20
The Capture of Iwo JimaUnited States Navy4h 37m$1 · $0.00
Japan and the Pacific, and a Japanese View of the Eastern QuestionManjiro Inagaki5h 44m$2 · $0.00