The Future of Violence by Benjamin Wittes and Gabriella Blum

3/5. A lot more big theory than I was expecting, based on the title. Think many references to Hobbes and extensive ponderings of the role and shortcomings of nation states in creating peace and conflict. Good and thought-provoking, particularly the sections on privacy and security, which challenged me. They have a point that the thing we mean when we say "privacy" is a lot more complicated than the dictionary definition of the word.

Mostly, this was interesting to me because I have spent the past five years sliding unintentionally into a national security adjacent field, and it has changed me. I remember a decade ago having lofty intellectual opinions about the dysfunction of nationalism as a system. I still sort of do – I still have wildly leftist views on immigration, for example. But living and breathing national security has changed how I think about these things, and my country, and its place in the world, and the very concept of 'country.' My wife asked if this is based in substantive thought or just drinking the cool-aid, and I have to say . . . definitely both. But this book helped me articulate the parts that are substantive.