Director's commentary on the cover

I pretty much figured I'd get another globe-like image on the cover, based on PNM and BFA. Compared to those, this one is a lot more up close, with the inevitable focus on the Middle East. But what I really like a lot about this cover is the three dimensional quality of the presentation, with the giant (all caps) words "Great Powers" looming above the globe and emitting a sort of blue-ish glow over the top of the gray-on-gray globe. Then you have the subtitle ("America and the World After Bush") with shadowed while-on-black text that makes it seem like it's forward of the globe image, thus the 3 dimensions with the main title in the back, the globe in the middle and the subtitle in front of the globe, creating a lot of depth.

I also like the wrapper effect of the red band on the bottom, creating a fourth perceived level. Naturally, I am introduced as the "New York Times-bestselling author of THE PENTAGON'S NEW MAP," but the big thing is that my name is also in caps and prominently displayed--as if it has value. Bottom line: they didn't hide my name but set it clearly apart from the image with the white text on deep red band. Plus, the all-caps of my name balances the all-caps of the main title on top.

In all, the cover gives the impression of a very hefty, serious book. When Mark Warren saw it for the first time, he said it all made sense, as in "Great Powers" sounds like a book I should be publishing right now--a book the public would want from me right now.

More symmetry with the red band repeated on the back cover, wrapping around the spine, again displaying my name prominently on both, this time in black. The spine has "GREAT POWERS" in black, all-caps. The subtitle then goes to white and repeats the italicization of "and the" that it has on the cover. The Putnam label, "EST. 1838" is at the bottom of the spine. It never ceases to thrill me, being associated with such a historic publishing house. Putnam published T.R.

The back cover blurbs go as follows:

EXTRAORDINARY PRAISE FOR THE BOOKS OF THOMAS P.M. BARNETT

"Barnett is the most influential defense intellectual writing these days. A combination of Tom Friedman on globalization and Carl von Klausewitz on war, The Pentagon's New Map is the red-hot book among the nation's admirals and generals." --DAVID IGNATIUS, THE WASHINGTON POST

"The Pentagon's New Map is easily the most influential book of our time. I never dreamed that a single book would change my outlook on the United States' role in world affairs, but one has." --THOMAS ROESER, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

"The Pentagon's New Map is a must read." --THE WASHINGTON TIMES

"Barnett is one of the most important strategic thinkers of our time." --MICHAEL BARONE, USNEWS.COM

"In Barnett's words, 'a grand strategy requires a grand vision.' Blueprint for Action delivers trenchant criticism of the Bush administration's strategy, as well as highly original insights." --JOSEPH S. NYE, JR., THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD

"Provocative reading [from] a geopolitical wizard and military insider." --KIRKUS REVIEWS

"Thomas Barnett is one of the most thoughtful and original thinkers that this generation of national security analysts has produced." ---JOHN PETERSEN, PRESIDENT, THE ARLINGTON INSTITUTE

Since the cover is designed and cranked far in advance, it gets hard to produce blurbs on the actual book in question, so Putnam compiles a greatest hits from the past. The Ignatius one is the all-time best (the man has a way with words), and it really helped to get me fired from the Naval War College. It is used a lot in introductions when I speak.

The Roeser one is a bit over the top, but damn it, that was exactly the impact I was looking for with PNM, so God bless the man for delivering the words!

The WashTimes one, I believe, is Mac Thornberry, GOP congressman from TX. He wrote a great review of PNM.

Barone's blurb gets quoted a lot in my intros too. I remember him walking up to me and introducing himself in the break of that mega-PNM-brief that CSPAN taped at National Defense U (the almost three-hour one--an all-time great perf on my part).

Having Nye, who advised (along with Adam Ulam and Houchang Chehabi) on my PhD diss, review BFA in the WAPO book section was a real thrill as well.

The Kirkus blurb is about BFA.

The Petersen quote was garnered prior to PNM in a request by me. John is an old friend and a great guy, also a brilliant futurist.

The inside cover flaps are as follows:

U.S.A. $29.95
Canada $33.00

Lately, we are being told that this is no longer our world. America is in decline, and the rest of the world has caught up to us. Wars may be won, but the peace belongs to others--we just have to get used to it. I won't tell you the critics are wrong--just that their own vision is too limited. This is still America's world, and if we have the will to step up to the plate, we can make things right--right now.
--FROM THE PREFACE TO GREAT POWERS

The author of the groundbreaking New York Times bestseller The Pentagon's New Map--"easily the most influential book of our time" (Chicago Sun-Times)--brings us a remarkable analysis of the post-Bush world, and America's leadership role in it.

A new president. A new administration. For eight years, America and the world have been at cross-purposes--but the world has certainly not been standing still. Now, with a chance to start over, what do we do? Where's the world going now, and how do we not only rejoin it, but become a leader again in what has become the most profound reordering of the globe since the end of World War II?

In Great Powers, Barnett delivers a tour de force analysis of the grand realignments both already here and coming up fast in the spheres of economics, diplomacy, defense, technology, security, the environment, and much more. The "great powers" are no longer just the world's major nation-states but the powerful forces, past, present, and future, moving past us--and with us--like freight trains. This is a matter not simply of course correction, but of a complete recalibration, and the opportunities are far greater than the perils. Barnett gives us a fundamental understanding of both, showing us not only how the world is now--but how it will be.

"America's journey back to where we once belonged begins with one simple realization: This is a world of our making," says Barnett. Globalization as it exists today was built by America--and now it's time for America to shape and redefine what comes next. In Great Powers, he shows us how.

[picture of me]

THOMAS P.M. BARNETT regularly advises the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the State Department, the Special Operations Command, Pacific Command, and Central Command, and routinely briefs senior members of the four military services, the intelligence community, Congress, and global corporations. He is now the Senior Managing Director of Enterra Solutions, and formerly served as
Senior Strategic Researcher at the Naval War College and as Assistant for Strategic Futures in OSD's Office of Force Transformation. Dr. Barnett is a contributing editor for Esquire and writes a weekly column for the Scripps Howard News Service; his website, www.thomaspmbarnett.com, is read by major military and civilian leaders worldwide. A Harvard Ph.D. in political science, he lives in Indiana.

VISIT THE AUTHOR'S WEBSITE AT: WWW. THOMASPMBARNETT.COM

Jacket design by Nellys Li/ Photograph of the author © Connie Dawson

Visit our website at: wwww.penguin.com

G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS

a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

The opening preface bit was repurposed for last week's column. The "product description" is a tighter version of ones that appear on Amazon and in the PR docs.

The photo of me is not my favorite one taken by Connie. That one sits above on the blog headers.

I live in Indiana for now, but would move back East as soon as it's financially possible.

In sum, I like the cover a lot, but I sort of like the actual hard cover even more: deep, almost navy-blue spine with silver lettering (GREAT POWERS------THOMAS P.M. BARNETT) and then rich blue flaps. Best part is the imprinted "TPMB" on the front actual cover. No color, just carved out of the material, with a line carved under it.

I like that bit most of all. Just a neat touch.