First published 2025
Edward Fishman exposes how the United States transformed economic sanctions into a dominant weapon of statecraft over the past twenty years. The former State Department sanctions official documents America's shift away from globalization toward economic warfare against Russia, China, and Iran. Fishman shows how government mavericks built new arsenals using America's control over global finance and technology. He profiles the diplomats, lawyers, and financial experts who designed escalating economic campaigns against Putin, Xi Jinping, and Ayatollah Khamenei. The book reveals how control over the U.S. dollar, microchip technology, and energy supply chains became tools of geopolitical power. Fishman demonstrates that modern economic warfare requires only an online government statement rather than military blockades. His insider account shows how successive presidents deployed these unconventional weapons against national security threats, creating a fractured global economy and sparking an economic arms race among great powers.
Genres: history, international-relations, political-science, politics, economics, non-fiction, 21st-century, academic
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: insider-account, investigative-journalism
Setting: China, Iran, Russia, United States
Period: 21st-century
560 pages · Hardcover · Portfolio