Why write a primer about global affairs and what might the impact of that knowledge be

for a new generation? Richard Haas will join us to talk about his book, The World.

How does a critic approach fiction in translation?

Aberjote Chocoborti will be here to talk about new fiction from Japan, Cuba, Palestine,

and France. Alexander Alter will have an update from the publishing

world. Plus, we'll talk about what we and the wider world are reading.

This is the Book Review Podcast from the New York Times. It's June 26. I'm Pamela Paul.

Richard Haas joins us now. He is the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, the

author of 14 Books. His newest book is called The World, a Brief Introduction. Richard,

thank you so much for being here. Thank you, Pamela.

So I have to say up front, we are recording this podcast on June 18. And I'm sorry to bring

up another book, but I'm going to because it's so much in the news. Yesterday, John Bolton's

forthcoming book, The Room Where It Happened, leaked to the press and a lot of it was reported

widely. I don't know if you've seen the book itself, but I'm sure that you saw what got

out there. I'm curious to hear your reaction.

Well, I've not read the book. I've seen all the news reports. My basic reaction is, if

all that, what he reports is true, it's not clear to me why he remained where he was

as long as he did. It's not at all clear why he saved it for the book rather than testified

at a critical moment in the country's history. So he comes off to me as something of an enabler

and then an opportunist. But on the policy side, it fills in a lot of what many people

speculate about a president who is obsessed with his own political prospects and whose

grasp of foreign policy, shall we say, is our modest.

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