In what good is grand strategy hal brands analyzes the way four presidents conceived of grand strategy harry s truman richard m nixon and ronald reagan tried to put some order and purpose to the conduct of american foreign policy during key moments of the cold war while george w bush sought to create a framework in which he could conduct his war on terror. According to brands reagans contribution to this was to recognize that americas hard military economic technological and soft ideational power were tools that could be used to force the soviet union suffering accelerating economic decline to moderate its behavior and reach diplomatic accommodations with the us largely on washingtons terms the case study on the george w bush administration deserves a book length treatment. Grand strategy is the highest form of statecraft but it can also be the most perplexing reduced to its essence grand strategy is the intellectual architecture that lends structure to foreign policy it is the logic that helps states navigate a complex and dangerous world. What good is grand strategy power and purpose in american statecraft from harry s truman to george w bush cornell university press 2014 and making the unipolar moment u s foreign policy and the rise of the post cold war order cor nell university press 2016 his most recent book is american grand strategy in the age of trump. What good is grand strategy power and purpose in american statecraft from harry s truman to george w bush by hal brands david ryan university college cork ireland search for more papers by this author david ryan university college cork ireland