| Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations |  | Author: John Bolton
Publisher: Threshold Editions
Category: Book
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Seller: vana11
Rating:  57 reviews
Sales Rank: 184,944
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st Threshold Editions Hardcover Ed
Pages: 496
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.6
Dewey Decimal Number: 341.2373
ASIN: B001C2FSGQ
Publication Date: November 6, 2007
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Product Description
With no-holds-barred candor, the straight-talking former ambassador to the United Nations takes readers behind the scenes at the UN and the U.S. State Department and reveals why his efforts to defend American interests and reform the UN resulted in controversy. A veteran of three Republican administrations and a nominee for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, Bolton shows how the U.S. can lead the way to a more realistic global security arrangement for the twenty-first century and identifies the next generation of threats to America.The son of a Baltimore firefighter and the first person in his family to go to college, with scholarships to Yale University and Yale Law School, John Bolton studied with preeminent conservative thinkers Robert Bork and Ralph Winter. After law school, he experienced the "Reagan Revolution" firsthand in Edwin Meese's justice department -- where the American judiciary was fundamentally reshaped. His diplomatic skills were honed working with Secretary of State James Baker during the presidency of George H. W. Bush, and serving in the administration of President George W. Bush as Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs. In this revealing memoir, he candidly recounts his appointment in 2005 as Ambassador to the United Nations, his headline-making Senate confirmation battle, which resulted in his recess appointment, and his sixteen-month tenure at the United Nations. Bolton offers keen insight into such international crises as North Korea's nuclear test, Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, the genocide in Darfur, the monthlong negotiation that produced the controversial end of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, and more. Recounting both his successes and frustrations in taking a hard line against weapons-of-mass destruction proliferators, terrorists, and rogue states such as North Korea and Iran, he also exposes the operational inadequacies that hinder the UN's effectiveness in international diplomacy and its bias against Israel and the United States. At home, he criticizes the pernicious bureaucratic inertia in the U.S. State Department that can undermine presidential policy. A fascinating chronicle of the career of a distinguished lawyer and diplomat who has fought to preserve American sovereignty and strength at home and abroad, Surrender Is Not an Option is the candid memoir of one of America's outstanding statesmen that is sure to become required reading for everyone interested in international affairs.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 57
 Revealing to the max..... November 7, 2007
Robert Busko (Waynesville, NC USA)
163 out of 193 found this review helpful
If you come to Surrender is Not an Option feeling that the U. N. has outlived its usefulness and is counter to the best interests of the United States, then everything you probably already believe will be reinforced by what Mr. Bolton has to say. If you feel that the United Nations is a valid and worthwhile organization, get ready to have your beliefs challenged.
Assuming John Bolton isn't an out and out liar (which I could never believe) and that he has some hidden agenda in writing this book, the information contained here is earth shaking. That it comes from someone who actually went to work there for over a year makes what he has to say even more believable.
Surrender is Not an Option is an indictment of crooked world leaders and a system that works to enslave, not free. It is a must read for all those that blame America for everything.
I highly recommend Surrender is Not an Option.
Excellent and Bold November 6, 2007
Winston (Canada)
113 out of 137 found this review helpful
A bold testimony and un-deniable evidence on the uselessness of the United Nations and US State Department. Loss of Mr. Bolton as the ambassador to that world body was/is a big loss for those people who deeply care about the freedom and security of the western world. The book is a must read for those who think positively about the United Nations. It'll change your view about that corrupt international organization which Mr. Bolton desperately tried to salvage. Good Book!
Truth is the only option!!!!!!!! November 8, 2007
Jason C. Sides (Hell - Asheville, NC)
61 out of 74 found this review helpful
I am no wide-eyed neocon. I am your typical middle of the road type. I have to say that given my political leanings, I wasn't expecting to be impressed with this book. I wasn't, not at all. But reading this book gave me a new appreciation for the hard work Bolton undertook as our representative to the UN. Bolton faced an extremely difficult battle trying to ensure that the UN would give American interests a fair chance. For too long, our country has paid the bills for this corrupt organization and got little in return for our efforts. Well, I guess we get scorn and mistreated at the hands of others, but that's really about it. Bolton illustrates how this worked out during his tenure. He also points out why giving into world opinion will prevent the world from achieving its highest purposes. In the process, it becomes clear that we should rethink our involvement in this body, for it cant work to protect our interests.
Ignoring This Book is Not an Option. February 19, 2008
Adam Goldman (Orlando, FL)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Just when you thought that another book on international relations would be too arcane and narcoleptic to be noticable to the general population, think again. Ever read an article in the press about why the Bush administration opposed controls on biological weapons, and wonder what were they smoking? Bolton deftly slices through the falsifications authored by the Ministry of Information at the New York Times and CNN, and reveals how, through diabolical skill, certain European and Third World advocates incrementally seek to cut the heart out of American sovereignty and right to defend itself. Bolton's discussion regarding the ABM treaty is particularly engrossing. Not unexpectedly come well-known critiques of the stultifying State Department bureacrats who are more concerned with appeasing ill-tempered (and often corrupt) world "community" diplomats than defending their own country, which by the way pays their mortgages in Fairfax and Arlington counties.
Even more interesting are the perhaps inevitable episodes of acrimoniousness among super-achievers such as Rice, Powell, and Rumsfeld. President Bush remains above the fray and like a dad coming home from work, comes to find his kids aren't playing so well together. Another interesting fringe benefit from reading this book is that one comes away with a deep education in the art of surviving a bureacracy - be it government or private sector. The lessons are palpable and wholly applicable to any sphere.
"Not an Option" is not a meditation on the fine points of multipolar international political theory. Rather, it is an unsentimental yet reflective, just-tell-me-the-facts-ma'am work of what actually happened when Bolton was in the shark tank. Whether you are writing a doctoral thesis for your Ph.D. in international relations or you drive a delivery truck in Chicago, you'll find this book entertaining and very satisfying. You'll want to keep the light on the nightstand on a little bit longer with this one.
Adam Goldman
Lake Mary, Florida
Tells it like it is! January 30, 2008
Lee Boyland (Melbourne, FL United States)
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
No slight intended when I say it is a difficult book to read. Difficult because it, to quote Glenn Beck "makes blood shoot out of your eyes;" difficult because it made me want to vomit; and difficult because I felt I was trapped in a time warp where one continually repeated the same scene with only the names and dates changed--perhaps a simple description of life at the UN.
Bolton exposes Kofi Annan as a little tyrant, the secular pope. Then he debunks the "oil for food" program--which in reality was Saddam's "oil for palaces" program.
Ambassador Bolton clearly demonstrates the UN is a useless organization, a hole in New York City into which the U.S. pours billions of dollars a year.
Bolton's analysis of the U.S. State Department is insightful: another department with an out of control bureaucracy that requires a total overhaul. As Bolton says on page 448, "... what happens at State, where too much of the permanent bureaucracy thinks it is responsible not just for implementing policy, but for setting it, no matter what the president of the moment thinks, ... ."
For those readers who become overwhelmed, do not put the book down, skip to chapter sixteen. This chapter is worth the price of the book.
Well done, John!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 57
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