David A. Lee

Dense in military operational facts, and could have used more narrative to convey them -- but an authoritative text on the security importance of the North Atlantic as a unique theater and commercial chokepoint in its own right.

Blessed is the meandering life of serendipity.

Many are pessimistic about Biden's legacy — wrongfully, in my view. But we will look back wistfully at the greatest president of the 21st century to date, as an exemplar for steady and reasoned leadership in a world spiraling into madness.

I used to work in politics. Cohen nails the intrigues, pitfalls, and glories of power that I observed in my past life, made ever more poignant by the analogies to the arcs of the dramatis personae of the Shakespeare-verse.

The politics of the court — that of the scheming Plantagenet lords in the court of the feckless Henry VI — permeate our lives more than we like to admit. But the bard's insights remain timeless — like Virgil guiding Dante, Cohen masterfully leads the reader on making sense the intricacies of power and our collective existence.

I have not had a heart so heavy at the conclusion of a book as I have now with “The World of Yesterday.”