Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • The Jungle Grows Back

  • America and Our Imperiled World
  • By: Robert Kagan
  • Narrated by: Jason Culp
  • Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (11 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Jungle Grows Back

By: Robert Kagan
Narrated by: Jason Culp
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

"An incisive, elegantly written, new book about America’s unique role in the world." (Tom Friedman, The New York Times)

A brilliant and visionary argument for America's role as an enforcer of peace and order throughout the world - and what is likely to happen if we withdraw and focus our attention inward.

Recent years have brought deeply disturbing developments around the globe. American sentiment seems to be leaning increasingly toward withdrawal in the face of such disarray. In this powerful, urgent essay, Robert Kagan elucidates the reasons why American withdrawal would be the worst possible response, based as it is on a fundamental and dangerous misreading of the world.

Like a jungle that keeps growing back after being cut down, the world has always been full of dangerous actors who, left unchecked, possess the desire and ability to make things worse. Kagan makes clear how the "realist" impulse to recognize our limitations and focus on our failures misunderstands the essential role America has played for decades in keeping the world's worst instability in check. A true realism, he argues, is based on the understanding that the historical norm has always been toward chaos - that the jungle will grow back, if we let it.

©2018 Robert Kagan (P)2018 Random House Audio
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

How States Think cover art
The Lessons of Tragedy cover art
All Measures Short of War cover art
When Race Trumps Merit cover art
The Strategy of Denial cover art
Putin's Wars cover art
Why Liberalism Failed cover art
The Diversity Delusion cover art
Catch-67 cover art
The Long Game cover art
The Geopolitics of Emotion cover art
The Arab Uprising cover art
A Contest for Supremacy cover art
Guardians of the Revolution cover art
Making the Unipolar Moment cover art
American Power and Liberal Order cover art

Critic reviews

"A devastating riposte to [Trump's] careless, cynical and destructive approach to diplomacy.... [Kagan] is right to detect a crisis of confidence in the democratic world. He sets out his case with characteristic brilliance and conviction." (The Economist)

"[S]o important... In clear and forceful language, [The Jungle Grows Back] makes the case for America continuing its role as the guarantor of a liberal world order." (Eli Lake, Bloomberg)

"The Jungle Grows Back displays the characteristic Kagan virtues of lucid writing and thought - and a strong sense of history that adds drama and sweep to his argument." (Gideon Rachman, The Financial Times)

What listeners say about The Jungle Grows Back

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Disappointingly stuck on well trodden ground

Nothing fresh. Kagan who is a master of writing short but insightful books avoids tackling the Trump foreign policy except in a very cursory way. This is notably disappointing because he does a great job of concisely explaining the international order of the last 75 years. This could have laid the groundwork for a far more rigourous engagement with recent events, placing them in a larger historical context. The book just doesn't offer anything fresh in this regard although it does make an effort and overall is well worth a listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!