The Inheritance is subtitled The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power.Therefore, my issue with this book is that the only part of the world covered is The Middle East & Asia. Granted, the research and conclusions reached by Sanger in these hot spots are excellent, but if you take into consideration the vital role the minority vote in this country played in getting Obama elected,then in my mind, completely ignoring issues facing Africa and Latin America is a glaring omission. ( )

The advertising for this book talks about a "riveting narrative", but that is a little hopeful for this book. The book does clearly lay out the many foreign policy challenges facing President Obama as he takes office, focusing on how conditions have worsened over the past several years in troubled Countries around the world, focusing chiefly on Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, North Korea, China, etc. Dealing with these nations will be especially challenging given the domestic problems to be faced during a developing economic recession / depression.

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Well researched and highly informative, this book is at turns scary, depressing and inspiring. It chronicles mistakes and missed opportunities but the subtext is "we can do a lot better." ( )

An outstanding, well researched and analyzed history of the looming decisive foreign policy questions which have arisen from the Bush policy failures during the past 8 yrs. ( )

I don't read horror novels, but I doubt any of them could scare ma as much as this book. It is a summary of the national security threats that the Obama administration faces by a veteran journalist with deep access to policymakers.

The book has sections on Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, North Korea, and China, then sections on threat scenarios and what can be done about them. Some of his findings: Iran is working quickly to enrich uranium, and if they aren't working on a weapon design, that is the least difficult part of the process. Afghanistan has devolved during the years of most resources going to Iraq. Pakistan is the scariest threat of all, a country with nuclear weapons that is a failing state and may be in some danger of being overtaken by Al Quaida or the Taliban. North Korea is willing to sell the nuclear technology it bought from A. Q. Khan, and was setting up a nuclear facility for Syria until the Israelis bombed it. China is both trading partner and adversary at one and the same time, and is increasing its nuclear weapons capacity and its ability to engage in space warfare.

Sanger is willing to give Bush kudos for some things, but overall thinks the Iraq war had disastrous consequences, by diverting attention and resources from these higher-level threats, and by illustrating so well the difficulties in fighting an insurgency.

Overall, a masterful depiction of the complex realities of geopolitics. ( )