Superpower Illusions: How Myths and False Ideologies Led America Astray—and How to Return to Reality

Golly, I wish everyone would read this book. Mr. Matlock, whom I have never met, was our last ambassador to the Soviet Union. He was there when it broke up, and he wrote a book, Autopsy On An Empire, that combined eyewitness journalism with sound history. Even though you had just read what happened in the newspaper, his book was compelling, not only for the new stuff in it but for the clarity with which Matlock told the story. OK. That was history. Superpower Illusions is the after-action report on lessons learned. "Lessons we should have learned" would be a better term for it. The same people who gave Ronald Reagan the bad advice he ignored in dealing with Mikhail Gorbachev have concocted a myth in which their ideas (of course), as executed by Reagan, won the Cold War. Matlock, who was there, says Reagan followed his own ideas, and nobody "won" the Cold War in a conventional sense. Both sides came out ahead. The comic book version of history had a foul influence on the Clinton administration and a disastrous influence on Bush II. It's really time we get over it because if we can get our history right maybe we can make good decisions in foreign affairs and national security matters that we have been ignoring or screwing up for 17 years. That is kind of important.

Ambassador Matlock was in the middle of US-Russian relations for many years, so he gives an insider's view of what went on. As a Russian area specialist and Russian speaker, he understood each side's misperceptions and did his best to correct them. The dilettantes who have been named in his stead should have read his books before they took up their positions. Their failure to so can be seen in the present situation. Bush I, Clinton, Bush II and Obama have so consistently missed opportunities for better relations with Moscow and instead missed no opportunity to worsen them, we can see a pattern. Their vilification of Putin is totally misplaced, as is their unwillingness to see the world outside the perspective of the military-industrial-congressional complex. US triumphalism- claiming it won the Cold War, expaning NATO, attempting to reorient Georgia, and now arming of Ukraine with "defensive" weapons- evidences a long-term bipartisan effort to ignite a new Cold War. Matlock shows it was not inevitable and who was responsible.

Since the retirement of George Kennan, the US has not had a more astute diplomat specializing in Soviet and post-Soviet affairs than Jack Matlock. His words of caution and of prescience (see what he has to say about Crimea in 2009) should not go unheeded, but unfortunately have done so for the most part.His optimism over incoming President Obama's new approach to American diplomacy has sadly proven to be unfounded. But this is a very powerful and thought-provoking look at the direction of American policy and its sad mistakes in the years since the administration of President George Bush. Anyone seeking a different view of how American should direct its foreign policy should read this book.

This is one of the best analysis of Russian-American relations and what went wrong. I only wish people like Matlock advised Obama, unfortunetely it's not him but the people who "got Russia wrong" are Obama's consultants on Russia. This book is a great analysis of the Cold War and why Russia-U.S. relations went sour after the end of it. The myth of wining the Cold War is at the heart of America's problems with present day Russia. Why is it so hard to understand that if not for Gorby there would not be the end of it? It was not the America who is responsible for the end of the Cold War, it was an initiative of Gorbachev and intellectuals around him - Politbureu had no intentions of becoming "friends with the U.S.". Bravo Matlock! Great Book!

This is honestly written book which American public deserve. Opposite to media writing, this book is down to the truth. This book is vital reading for Americans who care about truth and the future of American foreign policy. Mr. Matlock is the intellectual giant, modest, and down the earth. America is lucky to have such man, and I hope American foreign policy makers will read this book and learn something from it. Dr. Djuro George Zrilic

Insightful analysis of how the U.S. adjusted to a world where the Soviet Empire ceased to exist. What it did well and what it did not do so well. I highly recommend.

If you want to understand today's situation with Russia,you must read this analysis of our past to understand the quicksand we are walking into! Matlock is a true scholar with integrity !

Anyone who is politically aware should read this book. It is an incisive, brilliant review of our recent history and has concrete suggestions for improvement of our foreign policy by one of the greatest minds of these times.

An excellent book in which a former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union, Jack Matlock, demolishes central myths that have distorted America's recent foreign policy -- including the idea that the United States destroyed Communism and defeated the Soviet Union in the Cold War. Ambassador Matlock argues that the Cold War ended in a negotiated selttlement that benefitted both sides.