The Independence of Nations

by David Fromkin

"This is a book about why world politics are as they are, and that athe fragmentation of the political world is neither accendal nor arbitrary, but rather the results from rooted patterns of human behavior. How to repair this fundamental flaw in the way in which we act and think in international relations is the subject of the last chapter."

Genres: History, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published October 15, 1981

About the author

David Henry Fromkin was an American historian, best known for his interpretive account of the Middle East, A Peace to End All Peace (1989), in which he recounts the role European powers played between 1914 and 1922 in creating the modern Middle East. The book was a finalist for both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Fromkin wrote seven books, ending in 2007 with The King and the Cowboy: Theodore Roosevelt and Edward the Seventh, Secret Partners.

Reviews

[Patrick F · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will teach this book one day in a class dedicated to the best books on international relations. Almost 40 years later, this book holds up tremendously well; especially his prediction that nationalism will continue to rise and be the category that matters the most. This is a realist triumph and it is because Fromkin sought to understand the world as it is, not as one wants it to be.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, very readable explanation of international relations and the inevitability of war.