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Best of 2024: Books on foreign policy

Our top three recommendations on what to read to decode international relations better

These books are the best peek into foreign policy this year. (Source: Freepik)

War

Bob Woodward
Simon & Schuster
448 pages
Rs 619

War by Bob Woodward (Source: Amazon)

Bob Woodward, the award-winning journalist, is a doyen of Presidential history and has done books on George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. This particular volume gives a fly-on-the-wall account of US President Joe Biden’s stint in the White House. War, which covers the decision-making processes in Washington on the two ongoing wars — between Russia and Ukraine and Israel against Hamas — is a fascinating insight into how the US administration dealt with the two conflicts that have upended many assumptions in the post World War II era.

Anger Management: The Troubled Diplomatic Relationship between India and Pakistan

Ajay Bisaria
Aleph Book Company
560 pages
Rs 999

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Anger Management: The Troubled Diplomatic Relationship between India and Pakistan by Ajay Bisaria (Source: Amazon)

Ajay Bisaria, who served as PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s private secretary and later as India’s High Commissioner to Pakistan before being withdrawn in 2019 after the revocation of Article 370 on August 5, is best placed to write a book on Pakistan. In both roles, he was in the room when decisions on engaging or not engaging with Pakistan were made. So from his vantage perspective, he has given a tour de force for India-Pakistan ties. This is a must read and the most updated account of the relationship between the two countries.

Crosswinds: Nehru, Zhou and the Anglo-American Competition over China

Vijay Gokhale
Penguin RandomHouse
256 pages
Rs 699

Crosswinds: Nehru, Zhou and the Anglo-American Competition over China by Vijay Gokhale (Source: Amazon)

This has to be one the most scholarly books on China that explores how the Western powers, US and UK, engaged with China in the early years. Vijay Gokhale served as India’s ambassador to China and later as Foreign Secretary. He had a ringside view of India’s diplomatic relationship with all the major players in the world and also gives a glimpse of how New Delhi engaged with Beijing in the early years. As the author of The Long Game (2023) — where he dejargonised the Chinese negotiating strategy — this book has given a window to the past that helps us understand the present competition for influence.

Shubhajit Roy

Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More