Wonder and Worry: Contemporary History in an Age of Uncertainty

Few are better than Professor Gavin at assessing the "state of the field", whether that be prevailing thinking about international affairs or the pathologies of the academy. Taken collectively, these interventions represent some of the most refined and distilled thinking about the study of statecraft and the application of history to contemporary affairs in the transatlantic world today." -- John Bew, Professor of History and Foreign Policy, King's College London

The current global order appears to be collapsing. Long forgotten challenges, such as the return of great power competition and the specter of nuclear war, demand fresh attention, while novel, complex, and menacing planetary crises ranging from climate and disease to emerging technology loom. Meanwhile, the United States--the most consequential nation in the international system, behaves erratically and seems willing to abandon its decades-long strategy of building strong alliances, countering authoritarianism and supporting openness. Legacy institutions, and in particular, elite universities, appear unable to meet the moment and provide the scholarly insight and training needed to navigate this new world. How should we understand these unsettling trends?

Wonder and Worry offers Francis J. Gavin's best insights on the pressing, fundamental questions we face. What is the state of world politics and the international system? What has been and should be America's role in the global order? And what is the most effective way to evaluate, generate insight, and teach the next generation how to answer the first two questions? Gavin's answers are nuanced, counterintuitive, and often surprisingly optimistic. Wonder and Worry is an incisive and accessible contemporary history for our uncertain age.

Author: Francis J. Gavin
Publisher: Bokforlaget Stolpe
Published: 10/30/2025
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.05lbs
Size: 9.70h x 6.78w x 1.11d
ISBN: 9789190021019

About the Author
Gavin, Francis J.: - Francis J. Gavin is the Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor and the inaugural director of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. In 2013, Gavin was appointed the first Frank Stanton Chair in Nuclear Security Policy Studies and Professor of Political Science at MIT. Before joining MIT, he was the Tom Slick Professor of International Affairs and the Director of the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas. In 2021-22, he was the Ernest May Senior Visiting Fellow in Applied History at Harvard University.

Gavin is the author of Gold, Dollars, and Power: the Politics of International Monetary Relations, 1958-1971, Nuclear Statecraft: History and Strategy in America's Atomic Age; Nuclear Weapons and American Grand Strategy; The Taming of Scarcity and the Problems of Plenty; and Thinking Historically: A Guide to Statecraft and Strategy.