“Wonderfully readable. . . . This is popular history at its best.” —The Daily Beast King George VI and Winston Churchill were not destined to be partners, let alone allies. Yet together—as foils, confidants, conspirators, and comrades—the unlikely duo guided Britain through war while inspiring renewed hope in the monarchy, Parliament, and the nation itself. In Churchill and the King, Kenneth Weisbrode explores the delicate fashioning of this important, though largely overlooked, relationship. The king and Churchill met nearly every week in private over lunch during the war. As they worked through the many problems facing their nation and empire, they came to realize that they had more in common than anyone could have guessed. Despite their differences, the trust and loyalty they eventually shared helped Britain navigate the most trying time in its history.

Churchill and the King: The Wartime Alliance of Winston Churchill and George VI

Biographies & Memoirs

Weisbrode, Kenneth

Historical

Penguin Publishing Group

This paper argues that the major powers have played a central role in fomenting a logic of regional rivalry that has prevented Central Eurasia from developing the critical foundations of co-operation that are necessary to produce the kind of post-Soviet stability one finds in Europe. While the paper does not dismiss the many internal causes of instability, it chooses to focus on the significance of the region to outside powers and the role those powers have played, both on the ground and in the symbolic realm. It does so by tracing the involvement of major powers in three particularly rich areas of instability - Karabakh, Ferghana and Afghanistan. Each case illustrates divergences between rhetorical policy and actual interests, and shows how the former have hindered the latter.

Central Eurasia - Prize or Quicksand?: Contending Views of Instability in Karabakh, Ferghana and Afghanistan (Adelphi Papers)

History

Asia

Oxford University Press

A concise guide to ambivalence, from Adam and Eve (to eat the apple or not?) to Hamlet (to be or not?) to globalization (e pluribus unum or not?).
Why is it so hard to make up our minds? Adam and Eve set the template: Do we or don't we eat the apple? They chose, half-heartedly, and nothing was ever the same again. With this book, Kenneth Weisbrode offers a crisp, literate, and provocative introduction to the age-old struggle with ambivalence. 
Ambivalence results from a basic desire to have it both ways. This is only natural―although insisting upon it against all reason often results not in "both" but in the disappointing "neither." Ambivalence has insinuated itself into our culture as a kind of obligatory reflex, or default position, before practically every choice we make. It affects not only individuals; organizations, societies, and cultures can also be ambivalent. How often have we asked the scornful question, "Are we the Hamlet of nations"? How often have we demanded that our leaders appear decisive, judicious, and stalwart? And how eager have we been to censure them when they hesitate or waver?
Weisbrode traces the concept of ambivalence, from the Garden of Eden to Freud and beyond. The Obama era, he says, may be America's own era of ambivalence: neither red nor blue but a multicolored kaleidoscope. Ambivalence, he argues, need not be destructive. We must learn to distinguish it from its symptoms―selfishness, ambiguity, and indecision―and accept that frustration, guilt, and paralysis felt by individuals need not lead automatically to a collective pathology. 
Drawing upon examples from philosophy, history, literature, and the social sciences, On Ambivalence is a pocket-sized portrait of a complex human condition. It should be read by anyone who has ever grappled with making the right choice.

On Ambivalence: The Problems and Pleasures of Having It Both Ways

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Mit Pr

The Atlantic Century is the first major historical study to re-examine the American-European partnership with an emphasis on the personalities behind the policy. Our strong system of European alliances built during the last century did not happen serendipitously. It was carefully constructed and cemented by a network of diplomats and politicians, who imagined, built, and sustained a new international system. In their vision, America and Europe were part of a single cooperative transatlantic community not rivals or one another's periodic savior, as they had been during two world wars.Historian Kenneth Weisbrode revealsfor the first time, warts and allthe insider's story of such well-known figures as Dean Acheson, W. Averell Harriman, and Henry Kissinger. It is the story of how and why the State Department's Bureau of European Affairs (EUR)the mother bureau” as it was called, the nerve center of the Atlanticistsrose to become the U.S. government's preeminent foreign policy office.
In today's fractious world, The Atlantic Century is both timely and telling.

The Atlantic Century: Four Generations of Extraordinary Diplomats who Forged America's Vital Alliance with Europe

Americas

Da Capo Press

A vivid account of America at the pivot point of the postwar era, Harry Truman’s first full year in office In 1946, America had just exited the biggest war in modern history and was about to enter another of a kind no one had fought before. We think of this moment as the brilliant start of America Triumphant, in world politics and economics. But the reality is murkier: 1946 brought tension between industry and labor, political disunity, bad veteran morale, housing crises, inflation, a Soviet menace—all shadowed by an indecisiveness that would plague decision makers who would waffle between engagement and isolation, as the country itself pivoted between prosperity and retrenchment, through the rest of the century. The Year of Indecision, 1946 overturns the image of Truman as a can-do leader—1946, in fact, marked a nadir in his troubled presidency. Relations broke down with the Soviet Union, and nearly did with the British. The United States suffered shortages and strikes of a magnitude it had not seen in years. In November 1946, the Democrats lost both houses of Congress. The tension between fear and optimism expressed itself too in popular culture. Americans rejoiced in talent and creative energy, but a shift was brewing: Bing Crosby making room for Bill Haley and B.B. King; John Wayne for Montgomery Clift. That year also saw a burst of spirit in literature, music, art and film—beneath the shadow of noir. The issues and tensions we face today echo those of seven decades ago. As we observe in this portrait of the era just before our own, as America learned, piecemeal and reluctantly, to act like a world power, it tried, and succeeded only partially, to master fear. Indecision, Weisbrode argues, is the leitmotif of American history.

The Year of Indecision, 1946: A Tour Through the Crucible of Harry Truman's America

VIKING

For fans of The King's Speech, the intriguing bond between monarch and prime minister and its crucial role during World War II The political and personal relationship between King George VI and Winston Churchill during World War II is one that has been largely overlooked throughout history, yet the trust and loyalty these men shared helped Britain navigate its perhaps most trying time. Despite their vast differences, the two men met weekly and found that their divergent virtues made them a powerful duo. The king’s shy nature was offset by Churchill’s willingness to cast himself as the nation’s savior. Meanwhile, Churchill’s complicated political past was given credibility by the king’s embrace and counsel. Together as foils, confidants, conspirators, and comrades, the duo guided Britain through war while reinspiring hope in the monarchy, Parliament, and the nation itself. Books about these men as individuals could fill a library, but Kenneth Weisbrode’s study of the unique bond between them is the first of its kind.

Old Diplomacy Revisited

What is influence and why might real influencers be those whose names we no longer remember? Ken Weisbrode embarks on an exploration to trace the most powerful strands of cultural and intellectual influence, and demonstrates it might not be what we think it is. "The influencer is a person who made an art of absence in the trade of cultural and sometimes political capital. The ones in this book represent a range of vocations, from politics to diplomacy to novel-writing, but almost all were cultural entrepreneurs. They were not puppet masters, gray eminences, unsung heroes, or Svengalis--although one or two have been portrayed thus. Rather, their influence is spread by virtue of their willful disappearance, of its perpetuation of a new language and cultural standard, and of their many conscious and unconscious imitators. The reason they had such influence was precisely because a part of their method was to be less visible in order to watch their ideas, habits, and styles proliferate without their names necessarily being affixed. [...] Yet, to understand such a modus operandi is necessary today when the proliferation of social media influencers are squandering cultural capital so quickly by the simultaneous promotion of their products, above all, themselves."&nbsp;

Real Influencers: Fourteen Disappearing Acts that Left Fingerprints on History

St. Augustines Press

"Eisenhower and the Art of Collaborative Leadership" examines the theory and practice of collaboration, and collaborative leadership, in the life and career of Dwight Eisenhower. It relates his collaborative style to his ideas about friendship, his Kansas upbringing and his family, his military training and career, and his particular practice of presidential leadership, which operated through teams and a deliberate, sophisticated system of bureaucratic consensus-building. "Eisenhower and the Art of Collaborative Leadership" elaborates an alternative interpretation of such leadership, describing Eisenhower not merely as a "hidden-hand" president, but also as a visible one at the head of a well-managed team. It is a concise portrait of one of America's most important and talented leaders, and a case study in sound leadership.

Eisenhower and the Art of Collaborative Leadership (Anthem Impact)

Leaders & Notable People

Anthem Press

Practical Lessons from US Foreign Policy: The Itinerant Years

In foreign policy, the Trump administration has appeared to depart from long-standing norms of international behavior that have underwritten American primacy for decades in a more interdependent and prosperous world. In this book, a diplomat and a historian revisit that perception by examining and reproducing several of their own essays during the past twenty years. The essays reveal that Trump's style exaggerates tendencies towards unilateralism already present in the actions, if not the policies, of previous presidents, and in their neglect of three imperatives: collective security, regional integration, and diplomatic imagination. It is not too late, however, to remedy the problem by learning the lessons of the recent past.

Goodby, James E.

Politics & Government

PALGRAVE~MACMILLAN

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Weisbrode, Kenneth. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Weisbrode, Kenneth

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Weisbrode, Kenneth. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Churchill and the King: The Wartime Alliance of Winston Churchill and George VI

Central Eurasia - Prize or Quicksand?: Contending Views of Instability in Karabakh, Ferghana and Afghanistan (Adelphi Papers)

On Ambivalence: The Problems and Pleasures of Having It Both Ways

The Atlantic Century: Four Generations of Extraordinary Diplomats who Forged America's Vital Alliance with Europe

The Year of Indecision, 1946: A Tour Through the Crucible of Harry Truman's America

Churchill and the King: The Wartime Alliance of Winston Churchill and George VI

Old Diplomacy Revisited

Real Influencers: Fourteen Disappearing Acts that Left Fingerprints on History

Eisenhower and the Art of Collaborative Leadership (Anthem Impact)

Practical Lessons from US Foreign Policy: The Itinerant Years