The collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest shock to international
affairs since World War II. In that perilous moment, Saddam Hussein
invaded Kuwait and regimes throughout Eastern Europe and Asia teetered
between democratic change and new authoritarian rule. President Bush
faced a world in turmoil that might easily have tipped into an epic
crisis.
As presidential historian Jeffrey Engel reveals in this page-turning
history, Bush rose to the occasion brilliantly. Using handwritten
letters and direct conversations--some revealed here for the first
time--with heads of state throughout Asia and Europe, Bush knew when to
push, when to cajole, and when to be patient. Based on previously
classified documents, and interviews with all the principals, When the
World Seemed New is a riveting, fly-on-the-wall account of a president
with his calm hand on the tiller, guiding the nation from a moment of
great peril to the pinnacle of global power.
"An absorbing book." -- Wall Street Journal
"Engel's excellent history forms a standing--if unspoken--rebuke to the
retrograde nationalism espoused by Donald J. Trump." -- New York Times
Book Review