{"podcast":{"title":"New Books in Political Science","slug":"new-books-in-political-science-408770","podcast_index_feed_id":408770,"rss_url":"https://feeds.simplecast.com/6sq2TaYn","website_url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com","image_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/7743b695-b4cd-4c21-acde-c1a69915e314/c3014373-19d9-4555-a6a8-e5b8e97c934c/3000x3000/af9ef2afee05125bb265ca99804e6c8a.png?aid=rss_feed","author":"New Books Network","episode_count":600,"summary":"This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: ⁠https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/⁠ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetwork Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science","last_synced_at":"2026-10-02T08:23:11.868223+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-political-science-408770"},"episode":{"title":"Great Power Diplomacy: The Skill of Statecraft from Attila the Hun to Kissinger with A. Wess Mitchell (Princeton UP, 2025)","slug":"great-power-diplomacy-the-skill-of-statecraft-from-attila-the-hun-to-kissinger-with-a-wess-mitchell-princeton-up-2025","published_at":"2026-09-29T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-political-science-408770/great-power-diplomacy-the-skill-of-statecraft-from-attila-the-hun-to-kissinger-with-a-wess-mitchell-princeton-up-2025","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-political-science-408770","url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com","audio_url":"https://injector.simplecastaudio.com/7743b695-b4cd-4c21-acde-c1a69915e314/episodes/f6f77ede-48be-47e5-a5f8-2a68c0be7b01/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=7743b695-b4cd-4c21-acde-c1a69915e314&awEpisodeId=f6f77ede-48be-47e5-a5f8-2a68c0be7b01&awSourceEpisodeId=44287bca-fea0-433f-a5f2-c421f24f9af2&feed=6sq2TaYn","summary":"Great Power Diplomacy. The Skill of Statecraft from Attila the Hun to Kissinger (Princeton UP, 2025) is a captivating history of diplomacy—and an urgent reminder of why we need to revive its lost arts to survive in a dangerous era of great power competition. From the beginning of time, human societies have found themselves confronted by enemies too numerous or ferocious to defeat solely by force of arms. In these dramatic moments, wise leaders have turned to diplomacy to rearrange the gameboard in their favor and stymie seemingly unstoppable foes. In Great Power Diplomacy, American historian and diplomat A. Wess Mitchell recounts the forgotten story of how history’s most legendary empires have used diplomacy as a tool of grand strategy to outwit, outmaneuver, and outlast militarily superior opponents. Through fifteen centuries of history, Great Power Diplomacy recreates the perilous junctures, colorful personalities, and intricate statecraft that led to some of history’s most stunning diplomatic achievements—and greatest disasters. The protagonists include giants like Richelieu, Metternich, Bismarck, and Kissinger, but also a lesser-known cast of scoundrels, eunuchs, drunkards, and fools. At every turn, fortune favored those great powers with the foresight and dexterity to build winning alliances, splinter enemy coalitions, and, when necessary, make peace with their bitterest foes. Diplomacy of this kind has become a lost art in recent years as Western elites embraced the illusion that globalization and the spread of democracy would create a borderless world where nations would live in harmony and war would be abolished from the human story. But, as Great Power Diplomacy reveals, we will need to rediscover the secrets of skillful statecraft as the world enters an unst…","meta_description":"Great Power Diplomacy. The Skill of Statecraft from Attila the Hun to Kissinger (Princeton UP, 2025) is a captivating history of diplomacy—and an urgent…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3352,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-political-science-408770/episodes/great-power-diplomacy-the-skill-of-statecraft-from-attila-the-hun-to-kissinger-with-a-wess-mitchell-princeton-up-2025/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-political-science-408770/great-power-diplomacy-the-skill-of-statecraft-from-attila-the-hun-to-kissinger-with-a-wess-mitchell-princeton-up-2025.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}