Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations | 
 enlarge | Author: John Bolton
Publisher: Threshold Editions
Category: Book
List Price: $27.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  49 reviews
Sales Rank: 49998
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 496
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.6
ISBN: 1416552847
Dewey Decimal Number: 341.2373
EAN: 9781416552840
ASIN: 1416552847
Publication Date: November 6, 2007
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 44 more reviews...
 John Bolton - Great American Who Is NOT Appreciated July 18, 2008
John Bolton is one of the smartest, most honest men in this great country, America. You will enjoy hearing him read his book. Of course as always, there are many sides to an issue, however, Truth does win out every time! Thank you John Bolton for letting us know you.
 I really wanted to like this book, but... July 13, 2008
... it just didn't deliver.
I tried to get into this book four times (literally falling asleep reading it twice) before I finally thumbed through to his resignation. It tends toward a dull recitation of events where mostly either US interests were defeated or where the US blocked the UN from doing something stupid. While lots of words and little action may be the hallmark of the UN, it doesn't make for a good book. Too bad, too, since I'm very sympathetic to most of Bolton's positions.
The last few chapters are markedly better, if only because it's always fun to read Lincoln Chafee be poked with sharp sticks (metaphorically speaking). If all the characters in this book had been painted with the vividness and clarity of Bolton's portrayal of Chafee (neurotic, dishonest, unstable, self-defeating), this book would have made for much better reading.
There was a single tantalizing nugget of info near the end that I found fascinating. Bolton reports that, based on conversations with certain Russian officials, Russian indulgence of North Korea and Iran's nuclear programs was grounded in racism. Unfortunately, he doesn't identify the sources, doesn't report what they said to make him draw that conclusion, and doesn't follow up on it.
This book came highly recommended by a number of people and outlets I considered reliable, but I was extremely disappointed by it.
The Belly of the Beast June 3, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is in a league of its own. This book takes you right inside the belly of the beast. If you have ever been remotely curious at how things really work - the inner workings of the UN, the politics at the highest levels of the US government, State Department etc. This is a must read.
Blockbuster stuff. And the dirt on the permanent bureaucracy? Jaw dropping
Mr. White Mustache Tells All May 15, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I admit I rather admired Bolton before I read this book, but after reading it, I admire the guy even more, the white-mustached David taking on the UN Goliath--although in this case, David didn't exactly win, though he did make an impact. Bolton tells his entire life story, though, unlike some recent political biographies (e.g., Bill Clinton's), he doesn't assail us with every detail of his childhood in youth, fast-forwarding through those periods and bringing us up to his service in the State Department, the one government agency he consistently derides (and backing up his derision with mountains of data). The thing that makes the book so appealing is that Bolton is the Great Pragmatist, not fond of the UN, but willing to accept it as a flawed but potentially useful institution (as all human institutions are, of course). My one beef with the book is the TMI factor--Too Much Information, which I suppose will be useful to some future Ph.D. student doing a dissertation on US foreign relations. The book runs over 400 pages and I wouldn't have minded getting a Reader's Digest version at around 200 pages. But all in all, it is a great read, some delightful insights into George W. Bush, Colin Powell, Condi Rice, and especially UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
 NOT WORTH THE PAPER IT IS WRITTEN ON May 5, 2008
2 out of 18 found this review helpful
thank god I did not pay for it. ANOTHER NEOCON who did not take TWO english classes in college. SAVE YOUR MONEY.
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