Top 5 books: January 2024
The first issue of the 100th volume of International Affairs features 35 brand new book reviews. In this blogpost, Book Reviews Editor Mariana Vieira distils some unmissable titles covering a range of timely topics, from NATO enlargement, the colonial origins of the European Union, to lessons learnt from financial crises and the role of women in the military. This promising selection will enrich your ‘to be read’ pile for the new year!
1) Seven crashes
Written by Harold James. Published in New Haven, CT by Yale University Press.
In Seven crashes, Harold James presents a new history of financial crises starting with food prices during the 1840s in Europe and ending with the aftermath of the COVID–19 pandemic. The author draws a new distinction between supply and demand crises, and he examines how each of the seven episodes impacted globalization. The book combines incredible historical detail with a compelling narrative that demonstrates how policy-makers have repeatedly overlearned lessons from previous crises. Jointly reviewed with Markus K. Brunnermeier and Ricardo Reis’s A crash course on crises, both books will benefit non-experts for their accessibility and policy-makers for their complimentary insights.
Read the full review here.
2) Support the troops
Written by Katharine M. Millar. Published in Oxford by Oxford University Press.
Support the troops has become an award-winning book for good reason. Focusing on the first decade of the ‘war on terror’, Katharine M. Millar provides an empirical and challenging overview of the ‘support the troops’ discourse as a distinct social phenomenon within the US and the UK. The book draws on political theory and social contract frameworks to illustrate how this discourse enables militarization and limits anti-war dissent. It is especially recommended to anyone working on militaries, gender or public memory.
Read the full review here.
3) Eurowhiteness
Written by Hans Kundnani. Published in London by Hurst.
In Eurowhiteness, Hans Kundnani outlines his scepticism of the European project, tracing the origins of the idea of ‘Europe’ and illustrating how it has served to distinguish those on the continent from external and threatening ‘others’. Thus, the European Union’s image of a united, diverse and cosmopolitan bloc is at odds with the internal assumptions of superiority which, in turn, shape the EU’s racialized expectations of its role in the world. The author writes for a British audience, urging readers to think of possible futures for the UK that go beyond the long shadow of EU’s imperial amnesia.
Read the full review here.
4) Evaluating NATO enlargement
Edited by James Goldgeier and Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson. Published in Cham, Switzerland by Palgrave Macmillan.
As NATO celebrates its 75th anniversary, Evaluating NATO enlargement brings together an impressive group of scholars and practitioners to analyse the alliance’s long history. The contributors offer a comprehensive assessment of the politics of enlargement in the 1990s, NATO’s relations with the EU and how expansion may have provoked Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The book also reflects on disagreements among members, discussing potential alternatives to enlargement and other paths that were not taken. Overall, this impressive edited volume will be particularly useful to policy-makers, lending their decisions a deeper historical context.
Read the full review here.
5) Forgotten warriors
Written by Sarah Percy. Published in London by John Murray.
Speaking of long histories, this remarkable collection of tales of female fighters includes examples of women’s participation in combat, non-state actors and civil wars, from Colombia to Sri Lanka. Forgotten warriors painstakingly showcases how women’s stories have been deliberately obscured from historical records and how these efforts work to limit their opportunities in the future. Sarah Percy persuasively demonstrates how gender can be regulated through combat and in conflict settings, as women are only allowed to take on roles that uphold the sociocultural status quo. Overall, the book’s broad coverage will appeal to a wide audience.
Read the full review here.
Mariana Vieira is the Book Reviews Editor of International Affairs.
Find the complete book reviews section in our January 2024 issue here.
For more reading suggestions, check out the IA Bookshelf series.
If you are interested in reviewing a book for the journal, register your interest in our book review application form here and follow us on social media where we post regular call outs for specific books and experts.
All views expressed are individual not institutional.
