Thinking Historically: A Guide to Statecraft and Strategy

Price: S$44.99
(as of Dec 24, 2025 04:17:56 UTC – Details)

A compelling and insightful argument for historical study as a way to understand and navigate the complex, often confusing world of decision-making
 
It seems obvious that we should use history to improve policy. If we have a good understanding of the past, it should enable better decisions in the present, especially in the extraordinarily consequential worlds of statecraft and strategy. But how do we gain that knowledge? How should history be used? Sadly, it is rarely done well, and historians and decision-makers seldom interact. But in this remarkable book, Francis J. Gavin explains the many ways historical knowledge can help us understand and navigate the complex, often confusing world around us.
 
Good historical work convincingly captures the challenges and complexities the decisionmaker faces. At its most useful, history is less a narrowly defined field of study than a practice, a mental awareness, a discernment, and a responsiveness to the past and how it unfolded into our present world—a discipline in the best sense of the word. Gavin demonstrates how a historical sensibility helps us to appreciate the unexpected; complicates our assumptions; makes the unfamiliar familiar and the familiar unfamiliar; and requires us, without entirely suspending moral judgment, to try to understand others on their own terms. This book is a powerful argument for thinking historically as a way for readers to apply wisdom in encountering what is foreign to them.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 2, 2025
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0300278365
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300278361
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.6 x 0.7 x 7.7 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #215,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #47 in International Diplomacy (Books) #313 in History & Theory of Politics #699 in Historical Study (Books)
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