The Silence of the Rational Center

Two distinguished conservatives give a stinging indictment of how American foreign policy is mismanaged, and make an urgent call for a return to sanity. Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke argue that members of what used to be called America's foreign policy establishment are no longer doing the job of keeping foreign policy rational and informed. Instead, hungry to coin the next Big Idea, they are in the business of advancing simplistic, glib mythologies. The result is that Americans are often presented with a fantasy world of nightmare scenarios rather than with explanations that lead to rational choices. Taking to task such well-known figures as Noam Chomsky and Jeffrey Sachs, Clarke and Halper argue for a revival of integrity within America's foreign policy elite so that America's standing in our world can be restored. A book that pulls no punches, "The Silence of the Rational Centre" is both a penetrating diagnosis and a stirring call to reform in what is possibly the most important area of American political life.