The Foreign Service Journal, November 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2013 35 The Dragon Extends Its Reach: Chinese Military Power Goes Global Larry M. Wortzel, Potomac Books, 2013, $29.95, hardcover, 224 pages, The Dragon Extends Its Reach is meant to counter what the author contends is a romanticized image of U.S. relations with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army held by a majority of American policymakers. Larry Wortzel relies on research and his own experience during a 32-year military career spent largely in the Asia-Pacific region, including two tours as a military attaché in China, to analyze each branch of the Chinese military. He also examines cybersecurity, space technologies and ballistic missile capabilities in an effort to provide a more realistic assessment of the U.S.-China relationship. The author or editor of 10 books about China, Mr. Wortzel was director of the Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College, Asian studies director and vice president at the Heritage Foundation, and a commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He lives in Williamsburg, Va. Rendezvous with Destiny: How Franklin D. Roosevelt and Five Extraordinary Men Took America into the War and into the World Michael Fullilove, Penguin, 2013, $29.95/hardcover; $11.99/Kindle, 480 pages. From 1939 to 1941, the United States was an avid supporter, yet reluctant partner, of the Allies in Europe. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was compelled to walk the fine line between pleasing the American people and defeating what he saw was an existential threat. Garnering support for U.S. involvement in the war was aided by Roosevelt’s vast personal network—in particular, five men who would act courageously to alter the course of history and the place of America within it. Drawing from a prodigious range of primary and secondary sources, including hundreds of letters and telegrams, Fullilove sets the stage for each trip, describes how the envoy carried out his various tasks, and then assesses the trip’s effectiveness. (See Steve Honley’s review in the October FSJ. ) Michael Fullilove is executive director of the Lowy Institute of Sydney, Australia. He is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Rhodes Scholar and a former adviser to the Australian prime minister. Qatar: Small State, Big Politics Mehran Kamrava, Cornell University Press, 2013, $35, hardcover, 232 pages. A small geographic area, lack of water and relatively recent statehood are all attributes that would seem to contrast with Qatar’s rapidly growing global recognition. Head- quarters of the worldwide news network, Al-Jazeera, and host country for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar remains an oil-funds dependent state. In this work, Mehran Kamrava explores how Qatar managed to get where it is today and what its prospects are for the future. It is a case study in how small states can exert influence on oth- ers through use of what the author terms “subtle power,” which includes among other things vigorous diplomatic outreach. Mehran Kamrava teaches at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar. He holds a doctorate degree from the University of Cambridge and has published numerous works on the Middle East. A Conversation with Ambassador Richard T. McCormack Richard T. McCormack, Xlibris, 2013, $19.99, paperback, 181 pages. This book, a volume in the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training’s Diplo- matic Oral History Series, tells the story of a life and career focused on geopolitics and the global economy. Among many other positions, Richard T. McCormack served as ambassador to the Organization of American States from 1985 to 1989 and under secretary of State for economic affairs from 1989 to 1991. For his service in the latter capacity, Ambassador McCormack received the State Department’s highest award from Secretary of State James A. Baker III. Richard T. McCormack is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Economic Club of New York. He is also the author of Asians in Kenya: Conflicts and Politics (T. Gaus Sons, 1971).