Wonder and Worry
Francis J. Gavin
The current global order appears to be collapsing. Long forgotten challenges, such as the return of great power competition and the specter of nuclear war, demand fresh attention, while novel, complex, and menacing planetary crises ranging from climate and disease to emerging technology loom. Meanwhile, the United States—the most consequential nation in the international system, behaves erratically and seems willing to abandon its decades-long strategy of building strong alliances, countering authoritarianism and supporting openness. How should we understand these unsettling trends?
Wonder and Worry offers Francis J. Gavin’s best insights on the pressing, fundamental questions we face. Gavin’s answers are nuanced, counterintuitive, and often surprisingly optimistic in this incisive and accessible contemporary history for our uncertain age.
Francis J. Gavin is Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor and Director of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D C.
Duration - 10h 56m.
Author - Francis J. Gavin.
Narrator - Leighton Pugh.
Published Date - Friday, 24 January 2025.
Location:
United States
Description:
The current global order appears to be collapsing. Long forgotten challenges, such as the return of great power competition and the specter of nuclear war, demand fresh attention, while novel, complex, and menacing planetary crises ranging from climate and disease to emerging technology loom. Meanwhile, the United States—the most consequential nation in the international system, behaves erratically and seems willing to abandon its decades-long strategy of building strong alliances, countering authoritarianism and supporting openness. How should we understand these unsettling trends? Wonder and Worry offers Francis J. Gavin’s best insights on the pressing, fundamental questions we face. Gavin’s answers are nuanced, counterintuitive, and often surprisingly optimistic in this incisive and accessible contemporary history for our uncertain age. Francis J. Gavin is Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor and Director of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D C. Duration - 10h 56m. Author - Francis J. Gavin. Narrator - Leighton Pugh. Published Date - Friday, 24 January 2025.
Language:
English
Opening Credits
Duration:00:00:24
Introduction
Duration:00:31:02
Chapter 1: Cracks in the Ivory Tower
Duration:00:20:48
Chapter 2: Why We Write
Duration:00:15:50
Chapter 3: Un-Discipline Yourself
Duration:00:18:00
Chapter 4: America’s Dangerous Amnesia About World Order
Duration:00:12:10
Chapter 5: The Terrible Dilemmas of Leadership in a Thermonuclear World
Duration:00:15:22
Chapter 6: Re-Imagining the World
Duration:00:32:55
Chapter 7: What Exactly Are We Doing?
Duration:00:23:04
Chapter 8: Dark ’N’ Stormy
Duration:00:14:47
Chapter 9: Learning from the Big, Bold 1990s Debates over the Post-Cold War World
Duration:00:11:19
Chapter 10: Economics and US National Security
Duration:00:38:14
Chapter 11: It May Be Different Than You Think
Duration:00:13:23
Chapter 12: Revise!
Duration:00:10:05
Chapter 13: How 1970s California Created the Modern World
Duration:00:21:16
Chapter 14: Asking the Right Questions About the Past and Future of World Order
Duration:00:36:34
Chapter 15: The Problems of Plenty
Duration:00:17:27
Chapter 16: It’s Not the Plane, It’s the Pilot
Duration:00:15:42
Chapter 17: What If We Are Wrong?
Duration:00:12:18
Chapter 18: Unspoken Assumptions
Duration:00:13:40
Chapter 19: The Gap Has Been Bridged!
Duration:00:14:35
Chapter 20: Pandemic and the Plight of American Public Policy
Duration:00:14:54
Chapter 21: Blame It on the Blob? How to Evaluate American Grand Strategy
Duration:00:59:27
Chapter 22: With Great Power Crisis Comes Great Power Opportunity
Duration:00:18:58
Chapter 23: Bill Burns and the Lost Art of Diplomacy
Duration:00:26:09
Chapter 24: History, Security Studies, and the July Crisis
Duration:00:30:59
Chapter 25: Time to Rethink America’s Nuclear Strategy
Duration:00:16:34
Chapter 26: The Failure of Markets to Explain War
Duration:00:16:01
Chapter 27: Does Might Make Right? Individuals, Ethics, and Exceptionalism
Duration:00:19:06
Chapter 28: I Was Wrong. Now What?
Duration:00:16:32
Chapter 29: Remembrance of Things Past
Duration:00:14:13
Chapter 30: Wonder and Worry in an Age of Distraction
Duration:00:32:37
Acknowledgements
Duration:00:02:01
Ending Credits
Duration:00:00:24