Jacob Heilbrunn is senior editor at The National Interest.

In 1913 the great royals of Europe gathered for a wedding. A year later they were at war. What happened? Jacob Heilbrunn on a new history the world tottering on the brink of madness.

Abroad

As America pulls back from Afghanistan, new books argue for humility and restraint in our foreign policy. By Jacob Heilbrunn.

Obama’s Next Cabinet

The U.N. ambassador built her career on catering to authority, not questioning it. By Jacob Heilbrunn.

JFK Sr.

Jacob Heilbrunn on Joseph Sr., the anti-Semitic Hollywood dynamo who proves to be the most interesting Kennedy of all.

A new book, James Mann’s The Obamians, traces the unlikely journey of Obama to becoming a fierce foreign-policy president. Jacob Heilbrunn on those he’s disappointed and surprised on the way.

Kennan, the man who defined America’s cold war policy, has finally gotten the biography he deserves. Jacob Heilbrunn on the misunderstood and grumpy visionary.