1999 (Magill Book Reviews)
At a glance:
- Author: Richard Nixon
- First Published: 1988
- Type of Work: Current Affairs
- Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Social issues
- Subjects: Political science, Politicians, Geopolitics
Two ideas are central to this book, and central to the goals that Nixon believes we, as a nation, must adopt if we are to make the twenty-first century better for all mankind than was the twentieth. Nixon contends that there are genuine prospects for a period of peace between the superpowers--and thus for most of the world--if the presidents Americans elect, the congressmen for whom they vote, and the people who represent the United States internationally support these ideas completely and ardently.
The first idea--Nixon notes that it is the more difficult of the two for Americans to understand and make part of governmental policy--is that there are two kinds of peace: real peace and perfect peace. The latter, a complete lack of conflict among nations, has never existed and never will, despite the naive efforts of some people to make it a goal of American policy decisions with regard to the Soviets. Real peace, on the other hand, is created by the acknowledgment that conflict among peoples is constant and unavoidable. The management of conflict with the specific purpose of avoiding war can be the goal of a nation and the accepted state of international affairs.
The second idea is that despite the best, most noble efforts, Americans cannot fundamentally change the internal workings, attitudes, and beliefs of the Soviet system. Instead, policy makers should strive to control and influence the international position of the Soviet Union to the United States’s advantage.
1999: VICTORY WITHOUT WAR is not a scholarly treatise. It is the considered opinion of a man experienced in the areas he discusses. It is very direct; Nixon does not compromise in either the clear statement of his own positions or the assessment of those with whom he does not agree. 1999 is as relevant as today’s newspaper, and as important as the year in its title.
Sources for Further Study
Booklist. LXXXIV, May 15, 1988, p. 1370.
Kirkus Reviews. LVI, March 15, 1988, p. 435.
Library Journal. CXIII, June 1, 1988, p. 101.
Los Angeles Times Book Review. May 8, 1988, p. 7.
The New Republic. CXCVIII, May 23, 1988, p. 36.
The New York Review of Books. XXXV, July 21, 1988, p. 17.
The New York Times. CXXXVII, April 11, 1988, p. C17.
The New York Times Book Review. XCIII, April 17, 1988, p. 7.
Publishers Weekly. CCXXXIII, April 1, 1988, p. 71.
The Wall Street Journal. April 28, 1988, p. 26.
West Coast Review of Books. XIII, July, 1988, p. 41.
