Worse Than a Monolith: Alliance Politics and Problems of Coercive Diplomacy in Asia (Princeton Studies in International History and Politics)
"I am sure that there will be many who will dispute Christensen's emphasis on alliance politics as the major factor in recent U.S.-Asian diplomatic history. Personally, I find his evidentiary base persuasive and his analysis attractively parsimonious. . . . [A]n intelligent, accessible, and significant work."--James W. White,American Diplomacy"Christensen both writes well and supports his hypothesis well; the material makes for mesmerizing reading."--June Teufel Dreyer,Journal of Military History"The [book] is a sumptuous array of original analysis and rich detail, backed up by judicious use of archival and secondary sources in both Chinese and English. . . . [F]or anyone teaching a college-level course on U.S.-East Asia relations or East Asian politics, the book should be required reading. . . . Christensen'sWorse than a Monolithis a major contribution to Cold War studies and U.S.-East Asia relations."--Sung-Yoon Lee,New Global Studies"A great scholarly book is not one that offers ultimate answers to all the questions that it has raised and tried to deal with; it is one that asks meaningful questions and, in coming up with answers to them, serves as a new point of departure for scholarly discussion and intellectual exchange. Christensen's is exactly such a book, and it is in this spirit that I write this review and put forward the above suggestions. This book surely will be read, discussed and, at times, debated by scholars for a long time to come."--Chen Jian,H-Diplo/ISSF Roundtable Reviews"Christensen's volume greatly enriches our understanding of alliance politics and deterrence in Asia during the Cold War. It is thorough in its research, clear in its presentation, rich in its insight, and thought-provoking in its interpretations."--Qiang Zhai,H-Diplo/ISSF Roundtable Reviews"Christensen's book is an important contribution to the burgeoning literature on East Asian security. He provides a counterintuitive theoretical claim that alliance cohesion may be more stable than alliance disunity, and provides deeply researched evidence from the Cold War in East Asia to back up his claims. Careful, thoughtful, and always stimulating, this book will be an important addition to our understanding of historical and contemporary problems in East Asian security."--David Kang,Political Science Quarterly"The main strength ofWorse than a Monolithlies in the skill with which Christensen uses his alliance politics framework to lend welcome analytical traction especially to explaining the Communist side of the conflict at a time when there is arguably little genuinely new to add to the historiography of the 'hot Asian wars' of the Cold War."--Evelyn Goh,International Relations of the Asia-Pacific"[T]he book is well written, and chapters Two through Seven will certainly interest any student of Cold War or East Asian history."--Walter Brummund, III,Journal of International Law and Politics