As Myers demonstrates, only through the study of ideas of ancient and modern political philosophers can one see the enduring outlines of good statecraft, based on the principles of political realism. The wise leaders of the future will follow the soundest principles of the past, taking the United States and the world confidently into the 21st century.

Robert J. Myers, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, is a sixteen-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, a past publisher of The New Republic, and former president of the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs. His previous books include The Political Morality of the International Monetary Fund and Korea.