Nuanced contemporary history from a surprisingly optimistic viewpoint
The current global order appears to be collapsing. Long-forgotten challenges, such as the return of great power competition and the spectre of nuclear war, combined with novel, complex, and menacing planetary crises ranging from climate and disease to emerging technologies, threaten instability and chaos. Meanwhile, the most consequential nation in the international system, the United States, behaves erratically, seemingly willing to abandon its decades-long strategy of building strong alliances, countering authoritarianism and supporting openness, and remaining deeply engaged in the world.

Wonder and Worry is a collection of Francis J. Gavin’s writing over the past decade on questions like: What is the state of world politics and the international system? What has been and should be America’s role in the
global order?

And what is the most effective way to evaluate and generate insight for the first two questions? Gavin’s answers are often nuanced,
counterintuitive, and surprisingly optimistic. Written in a more engaging, conversational style than most scholarly treatments, Wonder and Worry is an accessible contemporary history for our uncertain age.