he year ahead promises the continuation of challenges from the previous year and the emergence of, as of yet, unknown obstacles. As 2023 closed, the war in Ukraine raged with no end in sight and Israel’s military operations in Gaza continued with instability spreading to the Red Sea. Growing strategic competition between the United States and China suggested that global interconnectedness may slow, if not retreat, yet global cooperation remains vital to addressing climate change and the emerging risks associated with artificial intelligence.
The books I selected for this year’s six-month look-ahead reflect the promise and peril inherent to the year ahead, and focus on Russia and China, finance and politics, and a difficult reflection on Afghanistan. Not all is doom and gloom, though, with an optimistic look at confronting climate change, a new history of Africa, and even a book about my personal favorite sport, Formula One.
These are just some of the books to which I’m looking forward to in the first half of the year, with the second half of 2024 promising even more excellent reads, so please do stay tuned to this page for more to come.
Our Enemies Will Vanish
In February 2024, Russia’s expanded war against Ukraine will enter its third year. With no clear end in sight, fatigue in the West is increasing and calls for a cessation of hostilities are growing. It is, then, even more important to understand how the war came about, how Ukrainians have stood in the face of naked aggression, and recall the stakes of the war. Yaroslav Trofimov, the chief foreign affairs correspondent of The Wall Street Journal, blends on-the-ground reporting, analysis, and personal stories from Ukrainians themselves in “Our Enemies Will Vanish.”
To be published 09 January, 2024.
Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet
Data scientist Dr. Hannah Ritchie zooms out from the day-to-day gloom of stories about climate change and the global response to impending environmental disaster to show that progress is actually being made and that all is not lost. A more positive approach to the discussion about climate, it will be interesting to see how Ritchie’s book is received and whether it can move the needle, or whether entrenched communities and interests will merely carry on in their views.
To be published 09 January, 2024.
When Left Moves Right
The lurch of many post-communist countries towards the populist right is seemingly contradictory. The previous dominance of center-left political parties has steadily eroded with right and far-right parties finding traction and success. In her new book “When Left Moves Right” Maria Snegovaya argues that the very success of the leftist parties left many of the traditional supporters behind, creating a space for the populist right to surge. A timely book, Snegovaya’s thesis likely carries lessons for Europe writ large, but also the democratic world.
To be published 16 January, 2024.
The Gardener of Lashkar Gah: The Afghans Who Risked Everything to Fight the Taliban
America’s abrupt and disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan left a shocking human tragedy in its wake. Afghan allies who served alongside, supporting and fighting with the United States and United Kingdom were suddenly left to fend for themselves against the Taliban. Larisa Brown, the Times defense editor, tells the story of one Afghan—Shaista Gul—and his family as they struggled and survived in post-withdrawal Afghanistan. Sure to be a powerful and poignant (and indeed difficult) book, it is vitally necessary that neither Washington nor London forget the sacrifices made not only by their own soldiers, but those by their Afghan partners as well.
To be published 06 February, 2024.
Goodbye Globalization: The Return of a Divided World
The economic prosperity the world enjoys today would not be possible without globalization. Having led to massive wealth creation as well as lifting untold millions out of poverty, global interconnectedness seemed—for a time—to be the law of the land. Elisabeth Braw in her new book suggests that connectivity is slowing and, possibly, reversing given global instability and the emergence of strategic competition.
To be published 13 February 2024.
How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler
Information warfare, propaganda, and mis- and dis-information have a long and storied history in the art of statecraft. Author Peter Pomerantsev looks back to World War II and the story of Thomas Sefton Delmer, a British propagandist who fought his own information war and pushed back against Nazi propaganda. In this novel narrative of history and current affairs, Pomerantsev looks at what made Sefton Delmer a success and how the West can, today, fight back against Russia’s political warfare.
To be published 05 March, 2024.
The Trading Game: A Confession
CitiBank’s youngest and, at one point, reportedly most profitable trader pens a new “Liar’s Poker” for the 21st century with “The Trading Game.” Gary Stevenson rose from a working-class background in East London to play in the high-stakes financial world of the City of London, but walked away from the world of banking after questioning its values, purpose, and the impact it has on average people. Morality aside, Stevenson’s book looks to offer an insider account of this opaque world—outside of readers of the FT—to a broader audience.
To be published 05 March, 2024.
The Price of Life
How much is a human life worth? Jenny Kleeman asks this curious, if a touch disturbing, but eminently pertinent question in her new book “The Price of Life.” Through encounters with modern-day enslaved people to tech billionaires, Kleeman attempts to find out just how much we and that which we produce e.g. our data, are worth. She asks whether our AI-driven future, one where everything is quantifiable, promises a more equitable future or merely Orwellian years to come.
To be published 14 March, 2024.
Out
In the long-awaited conclusion to his Brexit trilogy, Tim Shipman (the chief political commentator at The Sunday Times) continues his exploration of the United Kingdom’s tumultuous, torturous, and chaotic post-EU withdrawal politics, from Boris Johnson’s assumption of the occupancy of 10 Downing Street to the challenged response to COVID-19. His previous books, “All Out War” and “Fall Out,” were chock-full of insider accounts (score-settling and more), and “Out” looks set to do the same for the last five years.
To be published 18 March 2024.
An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Civilisation to Independence
The history of the continent of Africa is too often told in sweeping generalizations or simplistic cliches. It is seen through the lens of colonization, slavery, or conflict, all of which, while significant, are not the whole story. Zeinab Badawi offers a new history of Africa viewing the continent’s history not through a Western or European lens, but through its own lens and narrative.
To be published 18 April, 2024 (UK).
World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty First Century
Dmitri Alperovitch, the co-founder and former chief technology officer of the cybersecurity company Crowdstrike and an institute sharing his name at Johns Hopkins University, turns his attention from Russia and Ukraine—about which he has offered regular and penetrating analysis—to strategic competition between the United States and China. Laying out a case for why Xi Jinping, China’s president, is preparing to annex Taiwan, Alperovitch outlines a blueprint for deterring Beijing while ensuring American competitiveness in his new book, “World on the Brink.”
To be published 30 April, 2024.
At the Edge of Empire: A Family's Reckoning with China
A blended exploration of his family’s history and reporting on China’s rise, Edward Wong offers a unique look at modern China in “At the Edge of Empire.” Wong, a diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times, seeks to understand maturation in Mao’s China and time in the People’s Liberation Army, but also his disillusionment and departure to Hong Kong and, later, America. Traveling to China himself in 2008, Wong was well placed to watch Beijing’s rapid economic growth, but also the darker side of its ambitions at home and abroad.
To be published 28 May, 2024.
To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power
The legacy of the Cold War is very much with us today. Whether recycling the phrase and applying it—unevenly—to America’s contest with China or Russia’s war against Ukraine, the causes and consequences of that tumultuous period are as relevant as ever. Sergey Radchenko explores the Kremlin’s calculus and decision-making in “To Run the World,” unpacking the Soviet Union’s worldview and ambitions, and how that outlook translated into action. An especially relevant book that Russia and China watchers alike would do well to read and reflect upon.
To be published 30 May, 2024.
Empire of Austerity: Russia and the Breaking of Eurasia
Two years into the war against Ukraine and despite extensive sanctions, economic isolation, and punishing financial weapons, Russia appears set to continue the war through 2024 and into 2025. Betraying a misunderstanding of Moscow’s economic tools and levers, the West hoped these punitive measures would bring the Kremlin to heel. In fact, Nicholas Birman Trickett argues, Russian economic policy led toward greater authoritarianism in Moscow and paved the path for its war against Ukraine and inevitable decoupling from Europe.
To be published June, 2024.
Downfall: Prigozhin and Putin, and the new fight for the future of Russia
From a criminal and hot dog vendor to “Putin’s chef” and warlord, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rise and ultimate fall is a curious story that reflects the complex and tumultuous world of Russia’s politics. Two of the finest and consistently most illuminating Russia-watchers—Anna Arutunyan and Mark Galeotti—join forces in “Downfall” to explore Prigozhin’s path to power and rapid post-mutiny descent, offering peerless insights into “late-stage Putinism” and Russia’s future.
To be published 13 June 2024.
And one for fun…
The Formula: How Rogues, Geniuses, and Speed Freaks Reengineered F1 into the World's Fastest-Growing Sport
For long-time fans, the high-speed thrills and competition of Formula One is nothing new, but the global open-wheel racing circuit has taken on new life in the social media era thanks to Netflix’s “Drive to Survive,” aggressive marketing, and efforts of the new owners—Liberty Media—to expand to new audiences in the United States and abroad. Wall Street Journal reporters Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg turn their superlative sports writing acumen from international football (soccer for American readers) to racing in their highly anticipated “The Formula.”
To be published 12 March 2024.
a global affairs media network
Ukraine, China, Africa, Climate: Our Reviewer Previews the Year in Books
Photo by Jaredd Craig on Unsplash
January 6, 2024
The year ahead promises the continuation of challenges from the previous year and the emergence of, as of yet, unknown obstacles. In selecting the books he is looking forward to in the next six months, Joshua Huminski looked at the promise and peril inherent to the year ahead.
T
he year ahead promises the continuation of challenges from the previous year and the emergence of, as of yet, unknown obstacles. As 2023 closed, the war in Ukraine raged with no end in sight and Israel’s military operations in Gaza continued with instability spreading to the Red Sea. Growing strategic competition between the United States and China suggested that global interconnectedness may slow, if not retreat, yet global cooperation remains vital to addressing climate change and the emerging risks associated with artificial intelligence.
The books I selected for this year’s six-month look-ahead reflect the promise and peril inherent to the year ahead, and focus on Russia and China, finance and politics, and a difficult reflection on Afghanistan. Not all is doom and gloom, though, with an optimistic look at confronting climate change, a new history of Africa, and even a book about my personal favorite sport, Formula One.
These are just some of the books to which I’m looking forward to in the first half of the year, with the second half of 2024 promising even more excellent reads, so please do stay tuned to this page for more to come.
Our Enemies Will Vanish
In February 2024, Russia’s expanded war against Ukraine will enter its third year. With no clear end in sight, fatigue in the West is increasing and calls for a cessation of hostilities are growing. It is, then, even more important to understand how the war came about, how Ukrainians have stood in the face of naked aggression, and recall the stakes of the war. Yaroslav Trofimov, the chief foreign affairs correspondent of The Wall Street Journal, blends on-the-ground reporting, analysis, and personal stories from Ukrainians themselves in “Our Enemies Will Vanish.”
To be published 09 January, 2024.
Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet
Data scientist Dr. Hannah Ritchie zooms out from the day-to-day gloom of stories about climate change and the global response to impending environmental disaster to show that progress is actually being made and that all is not lost. A more positive approach to the discussion about climate, it will be interesting to see how Ritchie’s book is received and whether it can move the needle, or whether entrenched communities and interests will merely carry on in their views.
To be published 09 January, 2024.
When Left Moves Right
The lurch of many post-communist countries towards the populist right is seemingly contradictory. The previous dominance of center-left political parties has steadily eroded with right and far-right parties finding traction and success. In her new book “When Left Moves Right” Maria Snegovaya argues that the very success of the leftist parties left many of the traditional supporters behind, creating a space for the populist right to surge. A timely book, Snegovaya’s thesis likely carries lessons for Europe writ large, but also the democratic world.
To be published 16 January, 2024.
The Gardener of Lashkar Gah: The Afghans Who Risked Everything to Fight the Taliban
America’s abrupt and disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan left a shocking human tragedy in its wake. Afghan allies who served alongside, supporting and fighting with the United States and United Kingdom were suddenly left to fend for themselves against the Taliban. Larisa Brown, the Times defense editor, tells the story of one Afghan—Shaista Gul—and his family as they struggled and survived in post-withdrawal Afghanistan. Sure to be a powerful and poignant (and indeed difficult) book, it is vitally necessary that neither Washington nor London forget the sacrifices made not only by their own soldiers, but those by their Afghan partners as well.
To be published 06 February, 2024.
Goodbye Globalization: The Return of a Divided World
The economic prosperity the world enjoys today would not be possible without globalization. Having led to massive wealth creation as well as lifting untold millions out of poverty, global interconnectedness seemed—for a time—to be the law of the land. Elisabeth Braw in her new book suggests that connectivity is slowing and, possibly, reversing given global instability and the emergence of strategic competition.
To be published 13 February 2024.
How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler
Information warfare, propaganda, and mis- and dis-information have a long and storied history in the art of statecraft. Author Peter Pomerantsev looks back to World War II and the story of Thomas Sefton Delmer, a British propagandist who fought his own information war and pushed back against Nazi propaganda. In this novel narrative of history and current affairs, Pomerantsev looks at what made Sefton Delmer a success and how the West can, today, fight back against Russia’s political warfare.
To be published 05 March, 2024.
The Trading Game: A Confession
CitiBank’s youngest and, at one point, reportedly most profitable trader pens a new “Liar’s Poker” for the 21st century with “The Trading Game.” Gary Stevenson rose from a working-class background in East London to play in the high-stakes financial world of the City of London, but walked away from the world of banking after questioning its values, purpose, and the impact it has on average people. Morality aside, Stevenson’s book looks to offer an insider account of this opaque world—outside of readers of the FT—to a broader audience.
To be published 05 March, 2024.
The Price of Life
How much is a human life worth? Jenny Kleeman asks this curious, if a touch disturbing, but eminently pertinent question in her new book “The Price of Life.” Through encounters with modern-day enslaved people to tech billionaires, Kleeman attempts to find out just how much we and that which we produce e.g. our data, are worth. She asks whether our AI-driven future, one where everything is quantifiable, promises a more equitable future or merely Orwellian years to come.
To be published 14 March, 2024.
Out
In the long-awaited conclusion to his Brexit trilogy, Tim Shipman (the chief political commentator at The Sunday Times) continues his exploration of the United Kingdom’s tumultuous, torturous, and chaotic post-EU withdrawal politics, from Boris Johnson’s assumption of the occupancy of 10 Downing Street to the challenged response to COVID-19. His previous books, “All Out War” and “Fall Out,” were chock-full of insider accounts (score-settling and more), and “Out” looks set to do the same for the last five years.
To be published 18 March 2024.
An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Civilisation to Independence
The history of the continent of Africa is too often told in sweeping generalizations or simplistic cliches. It is seen through the lens of colonization, slavery, or conflict, all of which, while significant, are not the whole story. Zeinab Badawi offers a new history of Africa viewing the continent’s history not through a Western or European lens, but through its own lens and narrative.
To be published 18 April, 2024 (UK).
World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty First Century
Dmitri Alperovitch, the co-founder and former chief technology officer of the cybersecurity company Crowdstrike and an institute sharing his name at Johns Hopkins University, turns his attention from Russia and Ukraine—about which he has offered regular and penetrating analysis—to strategic competition between the United States and China. Laying out a case for why Xi Jinping, China’s president, is preparing to annex Taiwan, Alperovitch outlines a blueprint for deterring Beijing while ensuring American competitiveness in his new book, “World on the Brink.”
To be published 30 April, 2024.
At the Edge of Empire: A Family's Reckoning with China
A blended exploration of his family’s history and reporting on China’s rise, Edward Wong offers a unique look at modern China in “At the Edge of Empire.” Wong, a diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times, seeks to understand maturation in Mao’s China and time in the People’s Liberation Army, but also his disillusionment and departure to Hong Kong and, later, America. Traveling to China himself in 2008, Wong was well placed to watch Beijing’s rapid economic growth, but also the darker side of its ambitions at home and abroad.
To be published 28 May, 2024.
To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power
The legacy of the Cold War is very much with us today. Whether recycling the phrase and applying it—unevenly—to America’s contest with China or Russia’s war against Ukraine, the causes and consequences of that tumultuous period are as relevant as ever. Sergey Radchenko explores the Kremlin’s calculus and decision-making in “To Run the World,” unpacking the Soviet Union’s worldview and ambitions, and how that outlook translated into action. An especially relevant book that Russia and China watchers alike would do well to read and reflect upon.
To be published 30 May, 2024.
Empire of Austerity: Russia and the Breaking of Eurasia
Two years into the war against Ukraine and despite extensive sanctions, economic isolation, and punishing financial weapons, Russia appears set to continue the war through 2024 and into 2025. Betraying a misunderstanding of Moscow’s economic tools and levers, the West hoped these punitive measures would bring the Kremlin to heel. In fact, Nicholas Birman Trickett argues, Russian economic policy led toward greater authoritarianism in Moscow and paved the path for its war against Ukraine and inevitable decoupling from Europe.
To be published June, 2024.
Downfall: Prigozhin and Putin, and the new fight for the future of Russia
From a criminal and hot dog vendor to “Putin’s chef” and warlord, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rise and ultimate fall is a curious story that reflects the complex and tumultuous world of Russia’s politics. Two of the finest and consistently most illuminating Russia-watchers—Anna Arutunyan and Mark Galeotti—join forces in “Downfall” to explore Prigozhin’s path to power and rapid post-mutiny descent, offering peerless insights into “late-stage Putinism” and Russia’s future.
To be published 13 June 2024.
And one for fun…
The Formula: How Rogues, Geniuses, and Speed Freaks Reengineered F1 into the World's Fastest-Growing Sport
For long-time fans, the high-speed thrills and competition of Formula One is nothing new, but the global open-wheel racing circuit has taken on new life in the social media era thanks to Netflix’s “Drive to Survive,” aggressive marketing, and efforts of the new owners—Liberty Media—to expand to new audiences in the United States and abroad. Wall Street Journal reporters Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg turn their superlative sports writing acumen from international football (soccer for American readers) to racing in their highly anticipated “The Formula.”
To be published 12 March 2024.
