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What happens when a president convinces the world he might just do the unthinkable?
In US grand strategy and the Madman Theory, James D. Boys argues that projecting calculated irrationality can terrify adversaries into submission, but at enormous risk. From Nixon’s secret Cold War gambit to Trump’s chaotic, tweet-driven diplomacy, he explores how these two leaders weaponised unpredictability to keep allies guessing and enemies off balance. But where does strategy end and madness begin?
In an era where perception can dictate power, unpredictability becomes a weapon and fear its sharpest edge. This book reveals how calculated chaos reshapes diplomacy, destabilises norms and forces nations to question whether the next move is genius or catastrophe.
As featured in The Sun, Daily Express, The Spectator's Americano podcast & ABC News
‘A provocative and insightful examination of the madman theory as it developed under Richard Nixon and helps drive policy in the second Trump administration today.’
Fredrik Logevall, author of JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century
‘Donald Trump has blown up the traditional world order, detonating everything we thought we knew about US foreign policy. James Boys explains how and why that has happened. Fascinating, essential reading to understand grand strategy in a world upended by Trump. Boys is an authoritative, riveting guide.’
Brian Klaas, author of Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How it Changes Us
‘Essential reading for anyone trying to make sense of the last sixty years of American power – and where it’s headed next.’
Amie Parnes, co-author of Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House
‘A provocative, non-partisan examination of the development and enactment of the madman theory as US grand strategy that places contemporary policy debates within a comparative historical framework.’
John Bew, author of Realpolitik: A History
‘A perceptive, intelligent, and engaging history of the intellectual roots and uses of threats of extreme military force by the Eisenhower, Nixon and Trump administrations.’
Tom Wells, author of The Kissinger Tapes
Prelude: Donald Trump: madman in the White House?
Introduction: the madman theory
1 The symptoms of the madman theory
2 The architects of Armageddon
3 Eisenhower, Dulles and the Nixon vice presidency
4 A national madness
5 Nixon’s madman strategy
6 Donald Trump and the madman theory
7 Trump 2.0: return of the madman theory
8 The once and future grand strategy
Index