Audiobooks by Seth G. Jones

The American Edge: The Military Tech Nexus and the Sources of Great Power Dominance

"To regain its capacity to effectively deter China and retain its unmatched global status, the United States must deepen its partnership with the nation's most innovative tech companies. In The American Edge, Seth G. Jones explains how the industrial bases of the world's great military powers have risen, fallen, and evolved relative to each other over the past century. In doing so, Jones reveals how the US is on a trajectory toward failure—a failure to effectively deter major adversaries, and to fight and win a great power war if necessary. China is on a wartime footing. It is rapidly building its defense industrial base to deter and—if deterrence fails—to fight the United States. During periods of wartime, the US defense industrial base has always needed to maximize production capacity, minimize excessive regulations, and provide incentives to the private sector for innovation. Today, though, the US military industrial base is operating on a peacetime footing despite China's massive military buildup and Russia's total war in Ukraine. Set in its ways and trapped in outdated procurement systems, it lacks the capacity, responsiveness, flexibility, and surge capability to meet the military requirements to deter China. If the US can regain its capacity to respond flexibly and deter China in the current struggle for global power, it will need to come through the partnership with and utilization of these private companies. Along with providing a deep history of the economic foundations of how America's ascent to military superpower, this book shows how these innovative firms are helping the US military regain its edge and thereby retain its status as the world's paramount military force."

Seth G. Jones (Author), Tom Perkins (Narrator)

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Three Dangerous Men: Russia, China, Iran and the Rise of Irregular Warfare

"How three key figures in Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran built ruthless irregular warfare campaigns that are eroding American power. In Three Dangerous Men, defense expert Seth Jones argues that the US is woefully unprepared for the future of global competition. While America has focused on building fighter jets, missiles, and conventional warfighting capabilities, its three principal rivals—Russia, Iran, and China—have increasingly adopted irregular warfare: cyber attacks, the use of proxy forces, propaganda, espionage, and disinformation to undermine American power. Jones profiles three pioneers of irregular warfare in Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran who adapted American techniques and made huge gains without waging traditional warfare: Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov; the deceased Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani; and vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission Zhang Youxia. Each has spent his career studying American power and devised techniques to avoid a conventional or nuclear war with the US. Gerasimov helped oversee a resurgence of Russian irregular warfare, which included attempts to undermine the 2016 and 2020 US presidential elections and the SolarWinds cyber attack. Soleimani was so effective in expanding Iranian power in the Middle East that Washington targeted him for assassination. Zhang Youxia presents the most alarming challenge because China has more power and potential at its disposal. Drawing on interviews with dozens of US military, diplomatic, and intelligence officials, as well as hundreds of documents translated from Russian, Farsi, and Mandarin, Jones shows how America’s rivals have bloodied its reputation and seized territory worldwide. Instead of standing up to autocratic regimes, Jones demonstrates that the United States has largely abandoned the kind of information, special operations, intelligence, and economic and diplomatic action that helped win the Cold War. In a powerful conclusion, Jones details the key steps the United States must take to alter how it thinks about—and engages in—competition before it is too late. "

Seth G. Jones (Author), Stephen Graybill (Narrator)

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