In this episode of Books to Battles, Dr. Wendy Whitman Cobb and Colonel Cory Hollon welcome Lieutenant Colonel Rachel Reynolds to discuss Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire and its connections to the Foundations of International Politics course. Poetry, memory technology, and an imperial succession struggle become ways to examine soft power, domestic politics, and strategies of denial. The discussion asks whether institutions can survive without the military power behind them and how smaller powers can make conquest costly. For strategists, the challenge is choosing the theory that helps explain the problem in front of them. Throughout, the hosts examine what fiction reveals about the possibilities and limits of applying international relations theories to complex strategic problems.

If you have questions, comments, or episode recommendations, please email us at bookstobattles@au.af.edu

Books Mentioned

John J. Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (WW Norton & Co., 2014).

Robert O. Keohane, After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in World Political Economy (Princeton UP, 2004).

Robert Gilpin, War and Change in World Politics (Cambridge UP, 1981).

Jeff Pearlman, Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur (Mariner Books, 2025).

Everett Dolman, Pure Strategy: Power and Principle in the Space and Information Age (Routledge, 2005).

The opinions expressed here are those of the hosts or the guests and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Department of the Air Force, the Depart of Defense or War, or the United States Government.