Eighth Book Tackled

Good evening! 10 MORE DAYS. Today I met up with Jessica at Barnes & Noble. Knowing of Matt's absence and of Yohanna's recent return from New York, we decided to meet up on our own. We briefly discussed the intricacy of the book we'd just finished (On War, which is summarized below) and then went over the security of our laptops. We had some issues at first--yes, I'm a complete amateur when it comes to these things--but worked through them. After our meeting, we're sure our laptops will not be stolen!

Late last night, I finished reading On War by Carl von Clausewitz. This book has clearly been the most difficult read thus far. Clausewitz's language, in my opinion, is very complex--much like most philosophy is--so I often found myself re-reading sentences while chewing my poor fingernails in absolute concentration.

On War's purpose is self-explanatory: to write on war. Everything about war is explained, from its nature, to its strategy, its plan. While war is, by definition, "an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfill our will," its nature lies within "instinctive hostility and hostile intention." This hostility is the foundation of war's strategy, "the employment of the battle as the means towards the attainment of the object of the War." Stratagem is characterized primarily by intention because "it is dangerous to detach large forces for any length of time merely for a trick." For this reason, purpose and intention are much better utilized than chicanery. The final paragraph of the book concisely mounts and unites all ideas into one: "War is an instrument of policy;... the conduct of War... is therefore policy itself, which takes up the sword in place of the pen, but does not on that account cease to think according to its own laws.

I could not find any especially striking similarities between On War and the other seven books I've read except for its concept of stratagem. Sparta, Athens, and their allies, as once mentioned, frequently betrayed each other. It was because of this that the war lingered on not for a few years, but decades. Genghis Khan, on the other hand, had both intention and tricks up his sleeve; he had the intention of creating a universally Mongol Empire, and he had the military tricks of secrecy, rapidity, and surprise. For this reason I do not think Clausewitz's view applies to Genghis Khan's stratagem.

While I found it very helpful to have Jessica to help me decode some of Clausewitz's elaborate concepts and writing, there are still some parts that I do not understand--mainly because of his language. I hope to go more in depth with this particular book in order to thoroughly grasp its concepts.

Tomorrow I begin The Rise and Fall of Great Powers. My mother has brought out the suitcase, reminding me of how near the adventure is. I can't wait.

A Little "light" Summer Reading

This past week I attended a high school summer camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains which I've attended for the past couple of years. You may not believe me, but this camp was focused purely on enjoyment and not on academics! YES, I actually attended a camp for the sole purpose of satisfaction (crazy I know). In the midst of my relaxing week I decided that I might like to sit down with some light summer reading. Unfortunately, I picked up The Rise and Fall of Great Powers, which in no way satisfied my desire for "light reading".

The Rise and Fall of Great Powers was a cool dose of reality in my otherwise tranquil week. It reminded me much of my European history textbook, except it may have been a little bit longer. Despite it's epic length this was a solid book that taught me a lot about how the world has worked for the past 500 years. It kept true to its title and explained in depth the rise and fall of every great power from the Hapsburg Empire to the Soviet Union. This book made me think more critically about the fact that every superpower in history has fallen. While this idea may sound obvious to some, it resonates with me because it means that America is destined to fall and, as is explained in The Return of History and The Post American World, this event might occur sooner rather than later. While contemplating this enormous issue I find myself thinking about questions such as "What can we do to continue our success?" while wondering whether it might be better to accept our mortality and use this enlightened position to help shape our future world which will, more than likely, in fact almost definitely, lack a hegemonic United States. However, the biggest question this book brought up for me is one that I believe Dr. Dr. Luong most desires that we contemplate; "Where do I fit into the future and what should I be doing to shape it?"

I am fairly deep into The Peloponnesian War right now and am finding it fascinating. I think learning about the innovative and farsighted skill of great leaders such as Pericles and Archidamus is going to help me lead more innovatively in my everyday life and hopefully influence my ideas on the critical questions I asked in the paragraph above.

My apologies for the tardiness of my post. My relaxing summer camp, by definition, had no internet access. However, it is nice to see through the tens of friendly email reminders that both my voice and my silence are noticed and that people care about what I do.

I hope all of you are doing well and I want to take this time to note that I will be out of town next week as well. However, I will I will do my best to find a computer and get another post out. I will be leaving for Tahoe and will be staying at a cabin where I plan on reading almost constantly throughout the week. I realize it is time to buckle down as the 25 approaches. For me, the added challenge of finishing this reading makes the countdown all the more exciting.

Thanks for reading. Hope it was enjoyable.

Sparta Prevails!...Or Does It?

Hello everyone. It is time for a short analysis on the book that I have just completed, The Peloponnesian War, by Donald Kagan. Once again agreeing with Stephanie, I was more interested in reading Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford. For one, the list of Greek names throughout the book kept on expanding, as many generals died and others took their place. As more were introduced, it was a hassle keeping track of the names and especially hard to pronounce them!

As Stephanie has mentioned, this book was written with the help of Thucydides, a great Greek historian who lived during the Peloponnesian War. His quotes are located everywhere in the book which shows exactly how much knowledge he has provided us about the war.
The introduction provides us a little information about Thucydides as well as the overall impact of the Peloponnesian War. To the "fifth-century (B.C.) Greeks" the war was "perceived as a world war, causing enormous destruction of life and property,...and dividing the Greek states internally and destabilizing their relationship to one another."

As the chapters begin, the differences between Sparta and Athens were discussed, such as having a democratic (Athenians) or oligarchic (Spartans) rule in the territories. In addition, though the Spartans were known having "the best army in the Greek world", the Athenians had a navy that was said to be "by far the biggest and best Greek fleet ever known". Many battles were fought and victories went back and forth between the two powers. Eventually, a plague hit Athens, sending devastation to many people. Blockades and the lack of money made the situation even worse for the Athenians, but they kept pushing for victory. Peace treaties were made between them but they were later broken, and when Athens finally began gaining back strength, Sparta looked to Persia for help. Finally, after about 27 years of constant fighting, the battle came to an end. The Spartans had won the war, concluding with the Battle of Aegospotami.

However, how long did the Spartan victory last? During the conclusion, Kagan mentions that though the Spartans "dominated the Greek world", within one year the Athenians won back their full democracy. In addition, "within a decade they had recovered their fleet, walls, and independence, and Athens became a central member of a coalition of states dedicated to preventing Sparta from interfering in the affairs of the rest of Greece." Interesting enough, in less than thirty years after the war, the Thebans won against Sparta during a battle, forever destroying Sparta's power in the Greek world...

The next book I plan to read is On War, by Carl Von Clausewitz. I believe that Stephanie and Yohanna are also reading this book. I cannot wait to see what they have to say about the book while I read it myself. Bye for now!

Short Update: The Peloponnesian War

Two weeks and a day until we leave. Today I finished reading The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan. As I stated in Tuesday's blog, it was a relatively slow read in comparison to Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, lacking the action and surprise that I'd previously enjoyed. Nevertheless, it was very informative and interesting.

Kagan recounts the events of the Peloponnesian War in full detail, using Greek historian Thucydides as his primary source. For those unfamiliar with the war, the two great powers of the time (431-404 B.C.) are Sparta and Athens--two Greek "empires" who soon wage a war of nearly thirty years. While the Spartans are often seen as a tough, militarily superior people, many do not know of their deep anti-war sentiment. Yes, the Spartans, though trained from birth to fight for and defend their city, dislike the idea of actually going to war.

To keep it simple and brief, the war begins with an almost certain Athenian win, only to have the tables turned by their failed invasion of Sicily. Helped by the Persians, the Spartans destroy Athens' military, forcing them to surrender.

Two traits I frequently found present in Sparta, Athens, and their allies were disloyalty and lack of integrity--the reverse of the qualities portrayed by Genghis Khan's commanders and followers. Like The Art of War says,--and I mentioned this in my previous blog as well--"Success depends on the troops' loyalty." Because the Spartans, Athenians, and their allies lacked this, they are often seen struggling for support and power, unlike the successful Genghis Khan.

Kagan also provides analyses for the choices that many leaders made, answering several questions that readers may ask: Why were these choices made, and at what cost? However, Kagan also leaves some choices unanalyzed, and some questions unanswered. In doing so, readers are compelled to think like military strategists and historians--something I found fun (and difficult) to do.

Tomorrow I will be on to my 8th book, On War. I'm planning to finish this by Monday or Tuesday night. Adios until then.

Ivy Scholars Reading: Update 2/A (future) Yalie in New York

I definitely should have made a blog update sooner, but things such as my return flight from NY trip (which I'll talk about later) being delayed by two hours and drum major duties unfortunately focused my attention elsewhere. I'm really sorry, but I'll try to fill it with lots of content. Since the last time I've blogged I've finished (and enjoyed) two more books, Robert Kagan's The Return of History and the End of Dreams and Fareed Zakaria's The Post-American World.

The Return of History and the End of Dreams disproves the belief that the end of ideological disputes on an international level. This belief, which is known as the "new world order", is not present today. Instead, what exists is a world order of "one superpower [the United States], many great powers [Russia, China, Japan, India, Iran]". Kagan provides a detailed analysis of how each modern great power rose and what each great power's motives are today. "The great fallacy of our era has been the belief that a liberal international order rests on the triumph of ideas and on the natural unfolding of human progress," is a quote from the book that truly captures the book's main idea. The future does not guarantee that all nations will eventually turn to liberalism, thus producing a world of free countries free of international conflicts. What we face today is a world composed of democratic and autocratic powers. If we want an international order of liberalism, democracies must work towards it, because it is not--contrary to the belief of Enlightenment thinkers--guaranteed. This book opened my eyes to viewing international issues in the status quo. Now, I can see how those powerful countries use certain grand strategies in trying to accomplish their ambition--for example, Russia wishes to reestablish its position as Eurasian hegemon and it is doing things such as preventing Georgia and Ukraine from joining NATO or the EU--and how the United States will need a formidable grand strategy to maintain peace in this world of conflicting interests.

I am glad that I read The Post-American World immediately after finishing The Return of History and the End of Dreams, because these books, which both address the rise and current state of great powers today and how United States factors into all of this, are very closely related. I even noticed that Zakaria quotes Kagan a few times in his book. The Post-American World explains how "the rise of the rest" is taking place, from capitalism becoming a worldwide phenomenon to the development of new industries. It explains how although the growth of many countries expands the pie of wealth and power, thus yielding more for everyone, it still has an inverse relationship of percents. This means that although the United States is still expanding economically and politically, its relative position with respect to the rest of the world is diminishing. Zakaria explains the situation much more clearly with, "As other countries grow faster, America's relative economic weight will fall". He summarizes the reason with, "...the United States succeeded in its great and historic mission--it globalized the world. But along the way...it forgot to globalize itself." Then, he devotes a chapter to China, which is modernizing and expanding its power every day through capitalism. He calls it "the challenger" because although China now believes in a free economy, it still doesn't follow the American ideal of having a free government. He then devotes a chapter to India, which, like China, is developing rapidly through capitalism, but is called "the ally" instead, because of its democratic government. I really appreciated reading these two chapters, because not only did they give me lots of information about two countries that are affecting our world greatly today, but also because I can incorporate this new knowledge into my life as a policy debater (Policy debate constantly consists of arguments involving many countries such as nuclear proliferation and probable nuclear war). The next two chapters focused on America's power and purpose today. Zakaria covers the many advantages and many disadvantages of the United States today in this global playing field. He concludes with six steps that we as a nation must do to remain successful in the future. We must especially stay true to our liberal ideal of being an open, welcoming country that embodies diversity an determination. I think that we must also try to retain those qualities as individuals.

(I'll add the NY section in a little bit.)

Unrestrained Excitement

Please excuse my late blog! I would have updated sooner, but my seventeenth birthday was yesterday (thanks for the birthday wish, Mr. Gosney!) and I finally gave myself a day off from reading. Just to let everyone know, Jessica’s birthday is this Saturday—mark the date!

My apologies go out to Mr. Gosney. After all you’ve done for the ILC—take pictures, chauffeur, and for me, one special favor which I may not name—I forgot to mention you in my previous blog! Here’s a special thanks from me: THANK YOU MR. GOSNEY!! And if I haven’t said it yet, thank you Mr. Ramsey, Ms. Kronenberg, my parents… everyone!

With my increasing excitement comes increasing anxiety. There are only 2 ½ weeks left before the awe-inspiring experience begins, and I simply cannot contain my enthusiasm and, at the same time, fear. I yearn for independence and opportunity, but I’m simultaneously afraid. Will I be overwhelmed by the workload? Can I survive 3,000 miles away from my family and closest friends?

I’ve finished two books since my previous blog: The Art of War and The Post-American World. The Art of War has twice been encapsulated in earlier blogs by Yohanna and Jessica. Like Jessica, I’d like to note that Genghis Khan possessed the qualities that Sun Tzu echoed in his book; I repeatedly found myself thinking about Genghis Khan while reading it. According to Sun Tzu, for example, “Living off the enemy brings one closer to victory.” This is displayed through Genghis Khan’s looting tactic; after attacking every city, his army steals its goods, providing food and luxuries for all to enjoy. The Art of War also stresses the importance of loyalty to victory: “Success depends on the troops’ utter loyalty.” Throughout Khan’s reign, not one of his commanders betrayed him—one of the reasons for his military and economic supremacy. After reading this book, my respect for Genghis Khan increased even more. Perhaps he knew about Sun Tzu’s lessons and put them to use!

The Post-American World, written by Fareed Zakaria, argues that America’s piece of pie in the global economy is diminishing, albeit its power has not decreased. Developing countries, particularly China and India, are on the rise, surpassing the U.S. in myriad ways—the largest plane, the tallest building, the largest movie industry, and the list goes on. While America’s economic and military hegemony remains unmatched, the modernization of China’s and India’s economies has increased their global power potentials—hence a post-American world and, as Zakaria puts it, “the rise of the rest.” He also presents an optimistic attitude toward the future, believing that international violence is at its lowest point, standards of living are rising, and America will continue to thrive along developing countries.

I’m currently working on The Peloponnesian War. It lacks the suspense and excitement present in Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, but hopefully it will pick up speed later on. I’ll have another update when I finish reading it!

The Countdown Begins...

Wow, how time flies by. I really cannot believe that we are only 20 days away from leaving to Yale. It has been a pleasure reading the blogs from Colombia, Brown, and Cornell University as well as viewing the pictures that people have posted. I am well determined to put many pictures of us and the Yale campus once we arrive. (I aim to bring two blank memory cards with me on our trip, and hope to upload pictures often). I am also eager to see Connecticut College AND Wesleyan College before we arrive at Yale. Our two weeks in Connecticut will change our lives and open us to the many opportunities calling for us in the East Coast. This is our chance to shine for the WCCUSD and I am sure that the four of us (Matt, Stephanie, Yohanna, and myself) will make a good impression at Yale…especially because of how we are managing to finish the list of books!

I am currently on my sixth book (out of 10), and I must say that I did not think I would be so interested in the material. As a quick recap, the last time I blogged, I had just finished my third book, The Prince, by Machiavelli. The next book that I chose to read was the smallest book of all, The Return of History and the End of Dreams, by Robert Kagan, who went “back in time” to evaluate the post-Cold War Era. Throughout the book, Kagan reviews each of the great powers of the world, such as the United States, Russia, Japan, Iran, India, and Europe. His overall emphasis is the competition between these great powers and the race between the rising ideologies of liberalism and autocracy.

Next, I captured the essence of Genghis Khan, in the descriptive book, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, by Jack Weatherford. Similar to Stephanie’s impression of the book, I too enjoyed the storytelling and amazing facts (however some stories were very violent, with gruesome descriptions that I would never have imagined anyone would have done). Weatherford starts off with a historical introduction about the young Genghis Khan and his impact on the Mongol empire, and in actual, summarizes most of his “findings” in the introduction. This book was actually written after Weatherford and a group of others went to the childhood places of Genghis Khan, where they set off on their mission “to understand Genghis Khan and his impact on world history”. Throughout this book, I found that Genghis Khan resembled the Sage Commander mentioned in The Art of War. His actions, especially during combat, showed courage, great tactics, and the use of advantages to lead to victory. I realized that besides highlighting main ideas, I was also writing down which specific sentences related to the previous books. For instance, Never Eat Alone made several appearances, such as the need to work together and build connections. As the author personally states, “No single scholar could complete the task [of decoding an important source of information, known as the Secret History], but working together with a team from different backgrounds, we could begin to find the answers." This book was magnificent in all these ways, and I loved it from beginning to the end (though the ending was sort of slow).

The current book I am reading is called The Post-American War, by Fareed Zakaria. Its main message is the fact that we are currently living in a world where power is shifting from America to those of other countries. He has tagged the name “the rise of the rest”, where countries have been experiencing tremendous rates of economic growth. He goes around the world, talking about many countries (especially China and India) and their amazing development in the modern era. Looking at the published date, this book is pretty recent (2008), though much has already occurred during the New Year. I am actually very curious about his views considering today’s news on the war in Iraq, our new president, and the economy. What I realized was that some of his information came from Paul Kennedy, the author of The Rise and Fall of Great Powers, a book I still have to read.

I hope this post has served its purpose and is informational and enjoyable to read. Once again, the countdown begins with only 20 more days left! P.S. Mr. Gosney, thank you for your valuable e-mails, about how to post blogs. They have definitely helped me, and I have already began taking your advice. Well, that's all for now. Thanks for reading, everyone!