. >> please join me in thanking professor stephen sestanovich. [applause] >> we have a handful of books here and i think professor stephen sestanovich will sign them for you so i invite you to let him do that. >> thank you so much. [inaudible conversations] >> you are watching booktv on c-span2 with top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. booktv, television for serious readers. >> here is a look at some books that were published this week. the former deputy director of operations at the central intelligence agency recounts his 32 years of service in good hunting and american spymasters story. in sally ride:america's first woman in space journalist lynn shirt details the life and career of the first female astronaut. journalist meld bernstein argues the juvenile prison system does nothing to rehabilitate young offenders and needs to be returned in burning down the house:the end of juvenile prison. in america:imagine a world without her, analyzes the sociopolitical climate in the u.s.. civil rights scholar charles cobb describes the role gu

senior fellow on russian studies, stephen sestanovich. we'll be talking about these specific issues, but edward alden, if you have some general thoughts. guest: no, i would encourage the caller to call back and ask steve about these issues. he's far more knowledgeable than i am. just one quick point. he talked about the stance of the c.f.r. as an institution, we don't take positions on any of these things. you know, he will offer you a range of his personal opinions on the situation in ukraine, and he has great expertise there and experience, so very valuable. but c.f.r. as an organization does not take positions on those issues. my comments about trade come from my personal expertise and research. they're not the positions of the council on foreign relations. so we don't take it. host: we'd love to hear your response on this piece that appeared yesterday in the daily caller by alexander bernard and paul leaf, talking about the transpacific partnership, which we talked about a little today. they write in their piece, president obama's fai

. >> stephen sestanovich, former ambassador at large for the former soviet union under president clinton and former senior staff member at the national security council and state department under president reagan, argues here that there is no such thing as a golden age in american foreign policy. he says since world war ii u.s. foreign policy has been wavering, uncertain and plagued by internal conflict, much like today. this is just over an hour. >> thank you very much, mary. and i have a lot of thank yous to say to people in this institution. to meritt and her predecessors as dean. to my colleagues on the faculty, especially those who read parts of the book and helped me improve it. to my students, especially those who listened to me as i worked on it and thought about what i wanted to say. i'm grateful to all of them. in this book i try to get my arms around american foreign policy since the start of the cold war in 1947. now, this is a big and

stephen sestanovich is a senior are trying to help the u.s.igure out the best strategy in this situation. host. you bring up former ambassador campbell. he was nice enough to talk with us on this issue. we are talking about background. i want to ask you, mr. alden, have.ny scholars do you host: and this morning, we spotlight a think tank whose work often appears on this show, the counts soil foreign relations. joining us from the d.c. office is senior fellow, edward alden. first want to ask you about the mission. how do you see a role in major foreign policy debates like the one taking place right now, what's going on in ukraine? our our role is to try to be a source of useful information to the public, to the media, to policy makers, so in an event like ukraine, we've done a variety of events. we've done press calls with our experts that yes, you're going to have on next, steve sestanovich, i always have trouble with my s's early in the morning, with the former ambassador at large for president clinton, working on the newly emerging states in