Masters of International Thought

by Kenneth W. Thompson

Book Overview

The complexities of modern politics and international relationships sometimes overwhelm us. Kenneth W. Thompson here offers clarity to replace obscurity, personal warmth and human values to replace abstractions. He states the aim of Masters of International Thought early: to introduce the ideas of eighteen "men of large and capacious thought" about twentieth-century international relations.

He presents thinkers who assimilate practical ethics and religion (Butterfield, Niebuhr, Murray, Wight); who eschew utopia for the reality of power politics (Carr, Morgenthau, Spykman, Wolfers, Herz, Deutsch); who regard the Cold War as a mirror of the human condition (Lippman, Kennan, Halle, Aron); and who speculate about the possibilities of world order (Wright, Mitrany, de Visscher, and Toynbee).

Thompson was guided in his selections by the enduring value of these men's thought. Even those works that are fifty years old are still read by policy makers and scholars, Thompson points out. He also acknowledges his personal approach to these masters, for not only has he known their works, he has known many of the writers. He admits that they are "intellectual giants, but they are human beings, not gods." In Masters of International Thought, he clearly fulfills his aim to share the wisdom and knowledge of these twentieth-century thinkers.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807105813
• ISBN13: 9780807105818
• Release Date: February 1982
• Publisher: LSU Press
• Length: 262 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.6" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

An inspirational thinker and teacher!

My intro to Dr Kenneth W. Thompson came in 1990 as a first-year student at the Univ. of Virginia. A product of a fabled period in the Univ. of Chicago's history, a central tenet in his instruction was enunciated by his mentor, Hans Morgenthau: that a nation's foreign policy is best understood through the prism of national interest. This view of IR struck me as revelatory, much as did Clauswitz' view that war must serve as an extension of a nation-state's policy aims. "Master's of Int'l Thought" is an excellent survey of modern era thinkers (believe 3 or less are still with us today!) and written in Thompson's always thoughtful and exceedingly respectful style. I cherish my time previously spent in his classroom, and am thankful for the substantial work provided to us by this great American.