Books in Brief: The Geopolitics of the Nuclear Era

The Geopolitics of the Nuclear Era: Heartland, Rimlands, and the Technological Revolution, by Colin S. Gray (Crane, Russak, 70 pp., $6.50; paperback, $2.95). The term “geopolitics” often carries negative connotations for readers whose memories go back to the Thirties and Forties. Such impressions are not entirely subjective, but they may obscure the fact that a geopolitical approach in the hands of a balanced and keen-minded practitioner like Colin Gray affords a superb method for the study of present Western security problems in the face of increasing Soviet power. Indeed, Gray’s entire approach to international relations today stands in refreshing contrast to that of most academics in the field, who seem forever preoccupied with wearying trivialities, to the neglect of substantive problems of the world power balance. Inspired by the insights of men like Halford Mackinder and Nicholas Spykman, he writes forthrightly of the realities of power in a global context and is unafraid of critics who might dismiss his work as Cold Warriorism. His third chapter, on “Geopolitics and Soviet Power,” is the best brief treatment of its kind that this reviewer has anywhere encountered; it throws a clear light upon the wellsprings of Soviet policy. If one were asked to recommend a text for the study of international relations, this would be it: a closely reasoned, tough-minded, and realistic analysis of the contemporary world balance of power— and a bargain many times over at the modest price asked.

MC

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Michael Connors

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The Geopolitics of the Nuclear Era: Heartland, Rimlands, and the Technological Revolution, by Colin S. Gray (Crane, Russak, 70 pp., $6.50; paperback, $2.95). The term “geopolitics” often carries negative connotations for readers whose memories go back to the Thirties and Forties. Such impressions are not entirely subjective, but they may obscure the fact that a geopolitical approach in the hands of a balanced and keen-minded practitioner like Colin Gray affords a superb method for the study of present Western security problems in the face of increasing Soviet power. Indeed, Gray’s entire approach to international relations today stands in refreshing contrast to that of most academics in the field, who seem forever preoccupied with wearying trivialities, to the neglect of substantive problems of the world power balance. Inspired by the insights of men like Halford Mackinder and Nicholas Spykman, he writes forthrightly of the realities of power in a global context and is unafraid of critics who might dismiss his work as Cold Warriorism. His third chapter, on “Geopolitics and Soviet Power,” is the best brief treatment of its kind that this reviewer has anywhere encountered; it throws a clear light upon the wellsprings of Soviet policy. If one were asked to recommend a text for the study of international relations, this would be it: a closely reasoned, tough-minded, and realistic analysis of the contemporary world balance of power— and a bargain many times over at the modest price asked.