Joshua S. Goldstein

Joshua S. Goldstein

Professor Emeritus of International Relations, American University
and Research Scholar, Dept. of Political Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
16 Poets Corner Road, Amherst, MA 01002-1760
email: jg -at- joshuagoldstein -dot- com
(413) 256-6363

Biographical Sketch     

Curriculum Vitae [pdf]

Various news and activities in recent years


A Bright Future:
How Some Countries Have Solved Climate Change and the Rest Can Follow
[with Staffan A. Qvist]
(PublicAffairs, Jan. 8, 2019)     ISBN 978-1-5417-2410-5




"The most important book on climate change since An Inconvenient Truth."
     -- Steven Pinker, Harvard University

Op Ed: "Only Nuclear Energy Can Save the Planet" [with Staffan Qvist], The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 11, 2019.
Op Ed: "If We're Going to Save the Planet We've Got to Use the Nuclear Option" [with Staffan Qvist], Huffington Post, Oct. 10, 2018.
See book website for print, radio, TV, internet coverage.

Op Ed: "Inconvenient Truths for the Environmental Movement" [with Steven Pinker], The Boston Globe, Nov. 23, 2015.
Article: "Climate Change as Global Security Issue," Journal of Global Security Studies v.1, #1, Jan. 2016.
Article: "Energy in the World Economy, 1950-92" [ISQ, 1997] - PDF


War and Gender:
How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice Versa
(Cambridge U. Press, 2001)     Paperback 978-0-521-00180-9

Book of the Decade Award, International Studies Association


"I thoroughly recommend it to everyone who has an interest in why we humans behave the way we do."
     -- Jane Goodall, Primatologist

Web page: The Women of World War I
Podcast: Prof. Goldstein on PBS "Wide Angle," Dec. 2010
Enyclopedia Article: Female Combatants
Audio: Prof. Goldstein on women at war, Minnesota Public Radio, Oct. 2006
Op Ed: "John Wayne and G.I. Jane" (Christian Science Monitor 1/10/02: 11)
Paper: "The Importance of War in the Gendered Socialization of Aggression"
Article: "War" in Michael S. Kimmel and Amy Aronson, eds., Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities, Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2004.


Winning the War on War:
The Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide
(Dutton, 2011)    Paperback ISBN 978-0-452-29859-0

Book of the Year Award, Conflict Research Society



"An unusual and unorthodox approach that works very well indeed."
     -- Paul Kennedy, author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers

Radio:    NPR Talk of the Nation [with Steven Pinker], Dec. 7, 2011 (30 minutes).
Videos:   Peace in the 21st Century?, Oct. 2014 [4 min.].
              Decline of Armed Conflict (excerpts), Oct. 2014 [3 min.].
              Harvard JFK Forum [with Steven Pinker, Joseph Nye, Monica Toft, Stephen Walt], Jan. 30, 2012.
              Peace Is Increasing (YouTube) (3 minutes)
Op Eds:   War Really Is Going Out of Style [with Steven Pinker], The New York Times, Dec. 18, 2011.
              A U.N. Road Map to Peace (with Shibley Telhami), Washington Post, Sept. 16, 2011: A11.
              The Worldwide Lull in War, Christian Science Monitor, May 14, 2002: 9.
Articles: Think Again: War, Foreign Policy, Sept./Oct. 2011.
              Intervention Comes of Age: Lessons from Somalia to Libya [with Jon Western], Foreign Affairs, Nov./Dec. 2011.
Unpublished manuscript: Is the Current Refugee Crisis the Worst since World War II?


International Relations
(Pearson, coauthor Jon C. Pevehouse)
Eleventh Edition, 2016   ISBN 0-13-440476-9
Brief Seventh Edition, 2016   ISBN 0-13-440635-4


"[An] up-to-the-minute, engaging introductory text."
     -- Cynthia Enloe, Clark University

Podcasts: Link to podcasts on the textbook website          [Brief ed. podcasts]
Excerpt: "Core Principles of International Relations Theory," 2007
Short IR theory book: Principles of International Relations     ISBN 0-205-65266-2
Reader: Readings in International Relations (Pevehouse/Goldstein)     ISBN 0-321-35619-5


The Wounds Within:
A Veteran, a PTSD Therapist, and a Nation Unprepared
(Skyhorse, 2015, coauthor Mark I. Nickerson)
Hardbound ISBN 978-1-63220-419-6


"A powerful family drama and a reminder of the price veterans pay long after the fighting ends."
     -- Oliver Stone, director, Platoon and Born on the 4th of July


The Real Price of War:
How You Pay for the War on Terror
(NYU Press, 2004)



"An important book for all Americans."
     -- Wesley K. Clark, General (Ret.), Former Supreme Allied Commander, NATO

Video: Prof. Goldstein on war costs, CSPAN2, 10/7/04 via You-Tube --   Part 1 (7:10)
Video: Prof. Goldstein on war costs, CSPAN2, 10/7/04 via You-Tube --   Part 2 (7:49)
Audio: Prof. Goldstein on war costs, KGO Radio, 6/19/11


Three-Way Street:
Strategic Reciprocity in World Politics
(Chicago, 1990)




"[An] important, innovative study."
     -- Alexander George, Stanford University

Article: "Reciprocity, Triangularity, ... in the Middle East" [JCR 2001]
Article: "Reciprocity, Bullying, and ... the Bosnia Conflict" [APSR 1997]


Long Cycles:
Prosperity and War in the Modern Age
(Yale, 1988)





"A well-balanced analysis of theories about the economic long wave."
     -- Jay W. Forrester, M.I.T.

Read Entire Book Online
Article: "War and Economic History" (Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History)
Chapter: "The Predictive Power of Long Waves, 1989-2004"


Some articles and chapters on war in Anthropology, Psychology, Gender Studies, Economic History, and Political Economy, 2001-2004.

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Updated Dec. 17, 2017