Daily Times

The ambition of Richard Haass’ new book is clear from its title: The World: A Brief Introduction. In just 400 pages, Haass, who has been the president of the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations since 2003, offers a primer on world affairs.

“The whole lesson of this pandemic, and the whole lesson of 9/11, is we can’t ignore the world, or if we do ignore the world, it’s at our peril,” Haass says.

“These oceans that surround us are not moats. We’ve got to pay attention to the world and we’ve got to fix things here at home.”

Mark Atwood Lawrence said in a review for The New York Times that the book eschews any interest in academic theories, which Haass gratuitously dismisses as “too abstract and too far removed from what is happening to be of value to most of us.”

Instead, Haass promises a practical guide to help everyday people understand global forces in which their lives are increasingly enmeshed, even if they do not always know it or like it.

The author’s “restrained approach does not mean that the book lacks big takeaways,” said the review.