"The Fourth Power [offers] sweeping recommendations for how America should orient its foreign policy in the 21st century. Hart's timely central argument an alternative to both the neoimperialist impulses of the Bush administration and the creeping Kissingerian realism of the Kerry campaignis that the traditional military, political and economic powers of American foreign policy should be constrained by and imbued ... Read morewith a fourth power, America's unique principles. To those who advocate a crusading foreign policy of preemption to 'rid the world of evil' and spread democracy
even at the point of a gun
Hart argues that the first casualty would often be America's moral authority: 'There is a vast difference between advocating, as I do, that America live up to its own principles and advocating, as the Bush administration does, that the rest of the world live up to America's principles.'"
The New York Times Book Review "Hart offers a conceptual framework in which a 'fourth power
the power of [our] principle[s]' must be added to traditional American economic, political and military power as a major strategic asset internationally.... In their current formulation, [Hart's ideas] could prove important as soon as next year. An active Kerry for President campaigner, Hart could be a senior appointee in a Kerry administration."
The Washington Post Book World "What is refreshingly absent is any hint of rancor, political grandstanding or high-pitched vitriol. Instead, the readers are taken through an exceptionally well-crafted national security hypothesis... The Fourth Power is sharp and eloquent."
Boulder Daily Camera "The Fourth Power is a well-reasoned, trenchant extended essay about the place in the world for the United States of America.... His manifesto makes so much sense, a cynic is tempted to say, that it will never become the foundation of U.S. government behavior."
The Denver Post "Extraordinarily thought-provoking. Hart writes with great clarity and directness, yet with profound sophistication... Bush himself and his principal foreign policy advisers would be well served by reading and contemplating this book.... It provides definitions, a vocabulary, for talking about the future, both foreseeable and unforeseeable. And right now, this is not being done well on either side of the national political debate."
The Baltimore Sun "Gary Hart has written an elegant and wise book on American grand strategy. A truly strategic approach to foreign policy must encompass American ideals, domestic policy, foreign affairs, and military methods. Hart displays a mastery of all of them."
Fareed Zakaria, Editor, Newsweek International "Gary Hart, who tried to alert the nation before 9/11, has written a concise, graceful, and important book reminding Americans that our greatest long-term strength lies in the principles that most Americans take for granted."
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke "Twenty five years ago, Gary Hart was a standout among politicians in thinking creatively and constructively about American defense. Over the last decade, he has been prescient in warning about the threat of terrorism on American soil. With The Fourth Power he takes a systematic and sweeping look at a Grand Strategy most likely to make the United States secure. This is a serious and provocative work, by a man who has earned America's attention."
James Fallows of the Atlantic Monthly and author of National Defense "Gary Hart provides a needed focus on strategy, principle and national purpose. The Fourth Power couldn't come at a better time for those who seek to define and lead the discussion about America's role in a changing world."
William S. Cohen, 20th U.S. Secretary of Defense "Gary Hart as a senator, presidential candidate, citizen and author has always had an eye on the future. In this age of increasing tension and conflict, challenged by terrorism and anti-Americanism, he helps us understand where we are and where we might go. The remarkable thing about Senator Hart and his book, The Fourth Power, is that he continues to think deeply, beyond politics, about America's role in a new century."
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