With no-holds-barred candor, the straight-talking former ambassador to the United Nations takes readers behind the scenes at the UN and the U.S. State Department and reveals why his efforts to defend American interests and reform the UN resulted in controversy. A veteran of three Republican administrations and a nominee for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, Bolton shows how the U.S. can lead the way to a more realistic global security arrangement for the twenty-first century and identifies the next generation of threats to America.
The son of a Baltimore firefighter and the first person in his family to go to college, with scholarships to Yale University and Yale Law School, John Bolton studied with preeminent conservative thinkers Robert Bork and Ralph Winter. After law school, he experienced the 'Reagan Revolution' firsthand in Edwin Meese's justice department -- where the American judiciary was fundamentally reshaped. His diplomatic skills were honed working with Secretary of State James Baker during the presidency of George H. W. Bush, and serving in the administration of President George W. Bush as Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs.
In this revealing memoir, he candidly recounts his appointment in 2005 as Ambassador to the United Nations, his headline-making Senate confirmation battle, which resulted in his recess appointment, and his sixteen-month tenure at the United Nations. Bolton offers keen insight into such international crises as North Korea's nuclear test, Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, the genocide in Darfur, the monthlong negotiation that produced the controversial end of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, and more. Recounting both his successes and frustrations in taking a hard line against weapons-of-mass destruction proliferators, terrorists, and rogue states such as North Korea and Iran, he also exposes the operational inadequacies that hinder the UN's effectiveness in international diplomacy and its bias against Israel and the United States. At home, he criticizes the pernicious bureaucratic inertia in the U.S. State Department that can undermine presidential policy.
A fascinating chronicle of the career of a distinguished lawyer and diplomat who has fought to preserve American sovereignty and strength at home and abroad, Surrender Is Not an Option is the candid memoir of one of America's outstanding statesmen that is sure to become required reading for everyone interested in international affairs.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - The United Nations is no friend to the U.S.A...
An inside look at the obstinate, foot dragging bureacracy inside the U.S. State Department from a man, John Bolton, who (in an ideal world) should be some future (smart) President's Secretary of State. He details a failed United Nations organization that has never been more than an optimistic pie-in-the-sky theory (just like its' predecessor "League of Nations" ancestor)that is fraught with corruption as well as systematic animosity for it's United States host and primary benefactor. Bolton is an ... Read More
Rating: - Interesting Book
If you like to read about international relations then I highly recommend this book. It is very insightful and exciting to read. Even if you do not agree with all that is said it is still interesting to see how our nation has worked on international affairs over the past years.
Rating: - Just the Right Bull for Just the Right China Shop
We already knew that "one-man-one-vote" makes for messy domestic politics; now John Bolton shows how messy "one-nation-one-vote" is in international politics. Many of us laughed when President Bush appointed John Bolton to be America's ambassador to the United Nations. Our first thought was that he'd be a bull in a china shop. Bolton's book shows us that he was just the right bull, and that the UN was just the right china shop. In retrospect we have Bolton to thank for a remarkably thorough insider's ... Read More
Rating: - Bolton is a genius, like everyone else in the Bush administration
Although he was exposed by Carl Ford, a former chief in the State Department, as "a quintessential kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy" during his U.N. ambassador confirmation, this book demonstrates that he is in fact one of the most brilliant statesmen who ever walked the face of the earth. Bolton has openly admitted that he had no desire to serve in Viet Nam because he was afraid of getting killed. But as undersecratary of something-or-other at the State Department, Bolton was one of the fiercest proponents ... Read More
Rating: - How I wasted $12
I bought this book after I heard Mr. Bolton on Michael Medved's talk radio program. I must say, he's much more interesting on a radio interview than in a book.
The first red flag is that this book is over 400 pages. It's hard to dig out the good stuff from all the dry, boring details. Mr. Bolton will detail you to sleep!
"Surrender is Not an Option," huh? I will definitely be Surrendering my book.
- The United Nations is no friend to the U.S.A...
- Bolton is a genius, like everyone else in the Bush administration
