Book Talk: The Realist

Author David M. Sacks will join the LBI to discuss his book The Realist: Hans Morgenthau and the Purpose of American Power. This definitive biography charts Morgenthau’s journey from escaping Nazi Germany to becoming an intellectual architect of American foreign policy realism during the Cold War. Sacks will engage in conversation with Gideon Rose to examine how Morgenthau’s philosophy reshaped international relations and whether it still applies to global politics today. They will explore how a life forged in trauma produced insights that continue to define global strategy. A Q&A and book signing will follow the conversation.

David Sacks is a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the author of The Realist: Hans Morgenthau and the Purpose of American Power, the first biography of the German-American political theorist who pioneered realism. In addition to writing about Morgenthau, Mr. Sacks focuses on U.S.-China, U.S.-Taiwan, and cross-Strait relations. His writings have appeared in Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, Time, The Diplomat, The Hill, and the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. Prior to joining CFR, Mr. Sacks worked on political military affairs at the American Institute in Taiwan, which handles the full breadth of the United States’ relationship with Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties. He was also a Princeton in Asia fellow in Hangzhou, China. He received his M.A. in International Relations and International Economics, with honors, from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). At SAIS, he was the recipient of the A. Doak Barnett Award, given annually to the most distinguished China Studies graduate. Mr. Sacks received his B.A. in Political Science, Magna Cum Laude, from Carleton College.

Gideon Rose is senior lecturer in discipline at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, he was managing editor of Foreign Affairs from 2000 to 2010 and editor from 2010 to 2021. He has also served as associate director for Near East and South Asian affairs on the staff of the National Security Council and deputy director of national security studies at CFR. He is the author of How Wars End (Simon & Schuster, 2010).