Architects of Delusion Europe, America, and the Iraq War Simon Serfaty "A masterful analysis of America and Europe: insightful, trenchant, brilliantly conceived, and elegantly written. Drawing his lessons from America's post-World War II engagement with allies in Europe, Simon Serfaty has captured with chilling precision the dilemmas and symmetries that will dominate America's and Europe's security concerns in this generation."--General Wesley K. Clark "Simon Serfaty shows why America has more to fear from a weak Europe than a strong Europe. This powerful account of leadership failure in four countries explains not only how Iraq split the West but what a new set of leaders must do to repair the damage."--Joseph S. Nye, Jr., author of Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics "This is an impressive work of policy analysis and scholarship. Serfaty's knowledge of politics and personalities in the four capitals he considers is extensive. The interpretations of interactions among them are subtle. And there is a fine sense of historical background as well as today's global context." --Michael Brenner, University of Pittsburgh The commencement of war in Iraq in 2003 was met with a variety of reactions around the globe. In Architects of Delusion, Simon Serfaty presents a historical analysis of how and why the decision to wage war was endorsed by some of America's main European allies, especially Britain, and opposed by others, especially France and Germany. Tony Blair, George W. Bush, Jacques Chirac, and Gerhard Schroeder were, Serfaty argues, the architects of one of the most serious crises in postwar transatlantic relations. These four heads of state were the victims not only of their personal delusions but also of those of the nations they led. They all played the hand that their countries had dealt them--the forceful hand of a righteous America, the principled acquiescence of a faithful Britain, the determined intransigence of a quarrelsome France, and the ambiguous "new way" of a recast Germany. Serfaty's deft interweaving of the political histories and cultures of the four countries and the personalities of their leaders transcends the Europe-bashing debate sparked by the Iraq invasion. He contends that not one of these four leaders was entirely right or entirely wrong in his approach to the others or to the issues, before and during the war. For the resulting wounds to heal, though, and for the continuity of transatlantic relations, he reminds us that the United States and France must end their estrangement, France and Britain must resolve their differences, Germany must carry its weight relative to both France and Britain, and the United States must exert the same visionary leadership for the twenty-first century that it showed during its rise to preeminence in the twentieth century. Simon Serfaty is Senior Professor of U.S. Foreign Policy in the Graduate Program in International Studies at Old Dominion University as well as Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy and Senior Adviser to the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. 2007 | 184 pages | 6 x 9 ISBN 978-0-8122-4060-3 | Cloth | $49.95s | GBP32.50 ISBN 978-0-8122-0342-4 | Ebook | $49.95s | GBP32.50 World Rights | History, Political Science
评分
评分
评分
评分
我通常不太喜欢过于宏大的叙事结构,总觉得容易失焦,但这本书却成功地做到了在广阔的背景下,依然能紧紧抓住个体的命运脉络。那些描绘的社会图景,涉及的层面之广,让人惊叹于作者的知识储备和想象力。它仿佛提供了一张透视社会底层与上层权力运作的X光片,清晰地展示了结构如何影响个体,以及个体在巨大惯性面前的渺小与抗争。语言风格上,这本书呈现出一种古典而又现代的混合体,有时像老派的现实主义小说那样沉稳凝练,有时又突然冒出极具现代感的讽刺和解构,这种张力使得阅读体验非常丰富。它没有提供简单的答案或廉价的慰藉,相反,它更像是一面镜子,映照出我们这个时代在追求进步和理想时所必须付出的隐性代价。这是一种需要用心去“咀嚼”的作品,不适合浮光掠影地翻阅。
评分这本书的开篇就给我一种扑面而来的压迫感,作者似乎毫不费力地将我拉入了一个错综复杂、充满了暗流涌动的世界。那种叙事手法,如同一个技艺高超的魔术师,在我毫无防备的时候,就已经将我牢牢地套在了故事的核心。我几乎可以感觉到那些角色内心的挣扎和他们所处的巨大困境,每一个转折都像是精心布置的陷阱,让人既想逃离,又忍不住想深究下去。尤其是在描绘那些权力斗争和人性背叛的场景时,文字的力量被发挥到了极致,那种冷峻、近乎残酷的真实感,让我不得不停下来,反复咀嚼那些犀利得像是手术刀一样的句子。这本书成功地营造了一种让人难以喘息的氛围,你总觉得有什么重大的秘密即将被揭开,而一旦揭开,后果不堪设想。它不仅仅是在讲述一个故事,更像是在解剖一种社会病态,那种病态深入骨髓,影响着每一个角色的选择和命运,读完之后,那种沉重感久久不能散去,甚至影响了我对日常生活中一些既定观念的看法。
评分这本书的魅力很大程度上来自于其独特的视角切换能力。我感觉自己时而身处高墙之内,目睹着那些身居庙堂者光鲜外表下的腐朽与焦虑;时而又跌入尘埃之中,真切地感受到那些被时代洪流裹挟的普通人的无力和坚持。作者对不同社会阶层的心理描摹,精准得令人不寒而栗,他似乎能捕捉到不同群体看待世界的底层逻辑差异。这种多维度的观察,使得故事的张力不仅仅局限于情节的跌宕起伏,更在于思想的碰撞和世界观的冲突。读到后半段,我开始怀疑起故事中所有被“证实”的信息,作者成功地在我的脑海中植入了一种持续性的不确定感,迫使我去审视那些我一直深信不疑的“事实”。这种对既有认知的挑战,才是这类深刻作品最宝贵的地方。
评分这本书的节奏把控简直是教科书级别的。它不是那种一味追求高速发展的动作片,而更像是一部精密的机械钟表,每一个齿轮的咬合、每一次发条的上紧,都恰到好处地服务于整体的推进。初读时,我会觉得有些细节铺陈略显冗长,但很快我便意识到,那些看似无关紧要的旁枝末节,实则是为后来的高潮部分埋下了厚重的伏笔。作者在叙事中穿插的历史背景和哲学思辨,不是生硬的知识灌输,而是自然而然地融入了人物的对话和环境的描写之中,使得整个故事的厚度和立体感大大增强。特别是当剧情发展到中期,那种“山雨欲来风满楼”的感觉被营造得淋漓尽致,每一个场景的切换都像是在积蓄能量,等待着最终的爆发点。我特别欣赏作者对“留白”的运用,许多关键的冲突和情感的爆发点,他选择了点到为止,将解读的空间留给了读者,这种互动性让阅读过程充满了主动的探索乐趣。
评分这本书的文学性处理达到了一个很高的水准,特别是其对意象和象征手法的运用,可以说是神来之笔。许多场景的描绘,即便是脱离了故事情节,本身也具备了独立的审美价值,读起来就像是在欣赏一幅幅色彩厚重、层次分明的油画。那些反复出现的符号,贯穿始终,它们的功能绝非仅仅是装饰,而是承担了连接不同时空片段、揭示人物内心深层矛盾的关键作用。我尤其喜欢作者在描述环境和天气时所流露出的那种情绪色彩,风、雨、光线,都仿佛成了故事的另一个无声的角色,参与到事件的发生与发展中。虽然全书探讨的主题严肃且沉重,但作者并未让文字流于晦涩或矫揉造作,相反,它拥有一种强大的内在张力,能够吸引着你,直到最后一页,那种意犹未尽的感觉,让人迫不及待地想回到故事的起点,重新梳理那些细微的线索。
评分 评分 评分 评分 评分本站所有内容均为互联网搜索引擎提供的公开搜索信息,本站不存储任何数据与内容,任何内容与数据均与本站无关,如有需要请联系相关搜索引擎包括但不限于百度,google,bing,sogou 等
© 2026 book.quotespace.org All Rights Reserved. 小美书屋 版权所有