Episode · a16z Podcast · 2017-08-11
Books mentioned on a16z Podcast: Centers of Power, War, and History
with Graham Allison and Matthew Colford "When a rising power threatens to displace a ruling power, shit happens." It's true of people, it's true of companies, and it's even more true of countries.
Erik Torenberg discussed Essence of decision by Graham T. Allison. Graham Allison discussed History of the Peloponnesian War and Destined for War by Graham T. Allison.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Essence of decision
Essence of Decision by Graham T.
Discussed“In 1971, Graham wrote this essay which was subsequently turned into a book called Essence of Decision, explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, which remains one of, if not, the most widely read pieces in government among senior national security leaders.”
Where to get it
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History of the Peloponnesian War
History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides is a classical historical chronicling of the intense conflict between Athens and Sparta in ancient Greece.
Discussed“Thucydides was a chronicler of the great conflict between Athens and Sparta in classical Greece. He wrote a spectacular book called History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides captured uh in this book an insight uh which is essentially as old as recorded history itself.”
Where to get it
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Destined for War
Destined for War by Graham T.
Discussed“So, in this book, I take this insight through Thucydides' trap to try to illuminate what's happening in the relationship between the US and China by putting it all on the canvas of history. So, I look at the last 500 years.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (3) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing Destined for War
“Today's episode, based on an internal lunch series conversation, is moderated by a16z policy team partner Matt Colford and is with the author of the new book Destined for War: Can America and China Escape the Thucydides Trap?”
Passing Destined for War
“We're really here to talk about your new book about the state of the US-China relationship, particularly around international security issues.”
Passing The Clash of Civilizations?
“That's a great question and in fact, I have a chapter which has a a little riff on that. Clash of Civilizations. So, a Chinese conception of order is extremely different than American conceptions of order.”