Author(s): David E Sanger

Current Affairs

Three decades after the end of the Cold War, the United States finds itself in a volatile rivalry against the other two great nuclear powers--Xi Jinping's China and Vladimir Putin's Russia--in a world far more complex and dangerous than that of a half century ago. New Cold Wars--the latest from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author of The Perfect Weapon, David E. Sanger--is a fast-paced account of America's plunge into simultaneous confrontations against two very different adversaries. For years, the United States was confident that the newly-democratic Russia and increasingly wealthy China could be lured into a Western-led order that promised prosperity and relative peace--so long as they agreed to Washington's terms. By the time America emerged from the age of terrorism, it was clear that this had been a fantasy. Now, the three powers are engaged in a high-stakes struggle for military, economic, political, and technological supremacy--with nations around the world pressured to take sides. Yet all three are discovering that they are maneuvering for influence in a far messier world than imagined. Based on a remarkable array of interviews with top officials from five administrations, U.S. intelligence agencies, foreign governments, and tech companies on the front lines, Sanger unfolds a riveting narrative spun around the era's critical questions: Will the mistakes Putin made in his invasion of Ukraine prove his undoing and will he reach for his nuclear arsenal--or will the West's famously short attention span signal Kyiv's doom? Will Xi invade Taiwan? Will both men deepen their partnership to undercut America's dominance? And can a politically dysfunctional America still lead the world? Taking readers from the battlefields of Ukraine--where trench warfare and cyberwarfare are interwoven--to the Taiwan headquarters where the world's most advanced computer chips are produced, to tense debates in the White House Situation Room, New Cold Wars is a remarkable first draft history chronicling America's return to superpower conflict, the choices that lie ahead, and what is at stake for the United States and the world.