On Grand Strategy

By: John Lewis Gaddis

Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain

Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

A master class in strategic thinking, distilled from the legendary program the author has co-taught at Yale for decades.

For over 20 years, a select group of Yale undergraduates has been admitted into the year-long "Grand Strategy" seminar team-taught by John Lewis Gaddis and Paul Kennedy. Its purpose: to provide a grounding in strategic decision-making in the face of crisis to prepare future American leaders for important work. Now, John Lewis Gaddis has transposed the experience of that course into a wonderfully succinct, lucid and inspirational book, a view from the commanding heights of statesmanship across the landscape of world history from the ancient Greeks to Lincoln, and beyond. A thrilling experience for history lovers and a necessary one for anyone serious about the art of leadership, On Grand Strategy is the very definition of a master class.

©2018 John Lewis Gaddis (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“[T]he best education in grand strategy available in a single volume . . . a long walk with a single, delightful mind . . . On Grand Strategy is a book that should be read by every American leader or would-be leader.” (John Nagl, Wall Street Journal) 

“A remarkably erudite volume…[that] renders nuanced verdicts on an eclectic cohort of thinkers, writers, monarchs and conquerors…Gaddis has indisputably earned the right to plow different fields of historical inquiry, which he does in On Grand Strategy with self-evident glee and peripatetic curiosity.” (Washington Post) 

“Thought-provoking…The approach is highly idiosyncratic and the structure loose; it has something of the feel of a personal manifesto or intellectual memoir.” (Weekly Standard) 

Interesting, but fails to offer real lessons.

Use your time strategically and listen to something else. It’s not particularly well written and the author doesn’t bother to actually draw out strategic lessons. Instead, he gives a series of historical vignettes — Greeks, Elizabeth, Lincoln, others — that are interesting but not necessarily valuable without further exploration. I can imagine how this might work in the context of a class at Yale, as a starting point for discussion with a professor and classmates, but it makes for a mostly useless audiobook.

Two Pounds of Ideas in a 12 Pound Bag

A handful of good ideas and the occasional clever phrase does not justify the hours of rambling.

Master Class in Strategic Thinking

Using examples from across history, Gaddis eloquently outlines key insights into effective strategic planning.

The text and style are engrossing and will be well received by all, whether you are managing a global enterprise or a homemaker.

I will listen to this book many more times. Gaddis prepared a world class consolidation of humanities attempts to effectively plan for specific outcomes.

Strategy it isn’t, history lesson it is

I love this book but, by no means is it about strategy (let alone grand strategy). It is however, a grand walk through history.

Has some good insights, but low insight density.

Too much story telling, joking around, and getting confused about what the word "contradiction" means.

Promising start

In the beginning it was good, then it turned into a series of lectures without a clear definition of what grand strategy is and what it entails. Last five minutes were good too.

It needs a better structure.

you will love it if you are a fox

I will highly recommend this book IF you love long arguments that connect the dots at the end, not good if what you want is a direct and straight explanation.

Great lesson on strategies that changed the world

As a former masters student within the field of geopolitics, this book was 1) a great refresher of the grand strategies that pass between time and 2) a great history from the mindset of the actions taken by those famous figures in history.

The book drives you to consider what type of person you are, a fox or a hedgehog while giving examples between the two differing approaches to historical scenarios.

All in all, this book is probably most relevant today as you can apply your knowledge found within Gaddis’s book to the real world problems arising in the world today.

Like history? Yes!

Great narrative of history as we know it. Also consider this book equivalent to a semester with the author in his classroom at Yale.

very informative, compellingly written.

while the narrator was slow in his delivery the stories were very well written. the conclusions made by the Author were well reasoned. Thank you