Books like Russia and the Mediterranean, 1797-1807 by Norman E. Saul

Samantha Power examines why U.S. leaders repeatedly fail to stop genocide despite vows of "never again," through interviews, declassified documents, and on-the-ground reporting.

Explores how definitions of 'good' and 'bad' Muslims are politically constructed, tracing the rise of political Islam and the emergence of contemporary Islamist terrorism in the context of Western interventions.

From the Shadows: Robert M. Gates's Account of the Cold War and Presidential Policy Making

"In engrossing detail, David Holloway tells us how Stalin launched a crash atomic program only after the Americans bombed Hiroshima and showed that the bomb could be built; how the information handed over to the Soviets by Klaus Fuchs helped in the creation of their bomb; how the scientific intelligentsia, which included such men as Andrei Sakharov, interacted with the police apparatus headed by the suspicious and menacing Lavrentii Beria; what steps Stalin took to counter U.S. atomic diplomacy; how the nuclear project saved Soviet physics and enabled it to survive as an island of intellectual autonomy in a totalitarian society; and what happened when, after Stalin's death, Soviet scientists argued that a nuclear war might extinguish all life on earth." "This magisterial history throws light on Soviet policy at the height of the Cold War, illuminates a central but hitherto secret element of the Stalinist system, and puts into perspective the tragic legacy of this program - today environmental damage, a network of secret cities, and a huge stockpile of unwanted weapons."--BOOK JACKET.