PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewTen lively essays proceed in chronological order from King Xerxes’ invasion of Greece to Isaiah Berlin’s thoughts on World War II and the Cold War. In all of them Gaddis keeps pounding — to the point of monotony — the seemingly self-evident: The grand strategist must prune away emotion, ego and conventional wisdom to accept that 'if you seek ends beyond your means, then sooner or later you’ll have to scale back your ends to fit your means' ... The book is as much personal remembrance as strategic reflection, and is chock-full of aphorisms and enigmatic adages ... On Grand Strategy is many things — a thoughtful validation of the liberal arts, an argument for literature over social science, an engaging reflection on university education and some timely advice to Americans that lasting victory comes from winning what you can rather than all that you want.
