"Ambassador William J. Burns is the most distinguished and admired American diplomat of the last half century. Over the course of four decades, he played a central role in the most consequential diplomatic episodes of his time--from the bloodless end of the Cold War to post-Cold War relations with Putin's Russia, from post-9/11 tumult in the Middle East to the secret nuclear talks with Iran. Upon his retirement, Secretary John Kerry said Burns belonged...

Maddow shows how deeply militarized our culture has become--how the role of the national security sector has shape-shifted and grown over the past century to the point of being financially unsustainable and confused in mission.

"An examination of a world increasingly defined by disorder and a United States unable to shape the world in its image, from the president of the Council on Foreign Relations. Things fall apart; the center cannot hold. The rules, policies, and institutions that have guided the world since World War II have largely run their course. Respect for sovereignty alone cannot uphold order in an age defined by global challenges from terrorism and the spread...

Philip and Elizabeth find themselves at odds over their daughter's future now that the KGB is determined to recruit her. FBI agent Stan Beeman rededicates himself to uncovering the identities of the Russian spies.

"Deftly solving critical but intractable national and global problems was the leitmotif of George Pratt Shultz's life. No one at the highest levels of the United States government did it better or with greater consequence in the last half of the 20th century, often against withering resistance. His quiet, effective leadership altered the arc of history. While political, social, and cultural dynamics have changed profoundly since Shultz served at the...

It is 1987, and an imminent Gorbachev-Reagan nuclear arms summit promises to ease world tensions. But life for the Jennings family is more precarious than ever: Elizabeth's relentless dedication as a KGB agent has dealt a potentially lethal blow to her marriage to Philip, who has left espionage behind. As Philip's friendship with FBI agent Stan Beeman grows, the danger of exposure of the family 'business,' which now includes Paige, reaches crisis...

In this epic dual biography, one of our most distinguished scholars—the bestselling author of An Unfinished Life—probes the lives and times of two unlikely leaders whose partnership dominated American and world affairs and changed the course of history

Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger were two of the most compelling, contradictory, and important leaders in America in the second half of the 20th century. Both

...

"A helicopter ride to visit troops in the Afghanistan war zone, a tense meeting with the newly elected Prime Minister, and...a wild boar hunt! Eleni Kounalakis was forty-three and a land developer in Sacramento, California, when she was tapped by President Barack Obama to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Hungary under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. During her tenure, from 2010 to 2013, Hungary was a key ally in the U.S. military surge, held elections...