As the media and Congress debate the necessity of secret military tribunals and what constitutes humane treatment for prisoners of an unconventional war, foreign correspondent and political historian Robert Kaplan argues that such discussions are rooted in an anachronistic decadence, out of sync with the realities of the modern world. In his book-length essay Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands A Pagan Ethos, Kaplan examines the philosophies and strategies of Sun-Tzu, Tiberius, Machiavelli, Hannibal, Hobbes, and Churchill, and he compares the strategic foreign policy and military choices of their eras and recent events in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and North Africa. His tone of dispassionate, rational observation borders on admiration when he discusses the bold decisions made by world leaders—such as Churchill's realization that the best hope for a declining British empire was to show humility and become the truest ally of the U.S., a nation that promised to perpetuate Great Britain's core values. Piling up historical examples, Kaplan reinforces his thesis that governance based on compassion and moral rectitude inevitably leads to a weakened position on the world stage. He ultimately contends that the U.S. must maintain one moral standard for its own citizenry and one for dealing with foreign states. Kaplan supports espionage and preemptive military strikes, both to stay abreast of global troubles and to ensure that the international community knows where power is vested. But he also insists that the U.S. should act only out of self-interest, not out of an arrogant need to impose a belief system on the world at large. Which is fine, because by Kaplan's reckoning, the U.S. will no longer have a consistent belief system to impose. Warrior Politics is a compelling text, laden with astute observations about ancient and modern times, but the book's major flaw lies in one essentially unaddressed question: What is the value of fighting to preserve a world order that relies on overt cynicism and double-dealing? Kaplan may be right to claim that the only way to live is to understand that war is an eternal part of life, and so to practice distrust and deceit, but there may also be some value in accepting destruction rather than compromising deeply held beliefs. Kaplan offers a rational thesis, but it comes packaged with an uncomfortable chill.