Power Rules

A provocative account of how to think about and use America’s power in the world from a Pulitzer Prize winner and a leading foreign policy practitioner.

“Fluent, well-timed, provocative. . . . Filled with gritty, shrewd, specific advice on foreign policy ends and means. . . . Gelb’s plea for greater strategic thinking is absolutely right and necessary.” —New York Times Book Review

“Lively. . . . Power Rules is worth the read. . . . Gelb's career embodies big and powerful Washington, with all its turf battles, crises, and war stories. . . . These peeks behind the curtain reveal how personalities, insecurities, and even carven careerism can sometimes propel a nation's foreign policy, and its history, in new and unexpected directions.” —Washington Post

“Leslie Gelb has as much experience in foreign policy as anyone alive. Unlike most writers in this field, he isn't afraid to use plain language and say what he means. He relishes hard truths. And he doesn't mind making powerful enemies. All of these are prerequisites to writing a modern Prince—which is what Gelb has done. I don't agree with all of it, but I greatly admire this handbook on the uses of American power in a complex age.” —New York Times–bestselling and National Book Award–winning author George Packer

“Few Americans know the inner world of American foreign policy—its feuds, follies, and fashions—as well as Leslie H. Gelb. . . . Power Rules builds on that lifetime of experience with power and is a witty and acerbic primer.” —New York Times