Power of the Past

Hal Brands is a Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).Jeremi Suri is the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is a professor in the Department of History and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.

'Admittedly, there is no way for even the most accessible historian to prevent a politician from using history expediently. But, over time, policymakers’ history will only get better if historians provide more useful inspiration. This exceptional volume is a sober wake-up call.'- Russell Crandall and Wade Leach"In the last couple of years, with the success of populist parties in Europe, Brexit and the election of President Trump, history has been used not just as something to ‘learn from’ in order to ‘avoid repeating’ but also as an explanatory variable. Brands and Suri focus on the US case and show how representations of history, whether accurate or not (most often not), have been integral to American foreign policy-making." - Krisztina Csortea, International Affairs