Rory Stewart and Gerald Knaus distill their remarkable firsthand experiences of political and military interventions into a potent examination of what we can and cannot achieve in a new era of 'nation building.' As they delve into the massive, military-driven efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Balkans, the expansion of the EU, and the bloodless 'color' revolutions in the former Soviet states, they reveal consequences for international relations, human rights, understanding of state building.