Morenz Group Top Five Books for 2025

For most people, this time of year is filled with joy, happiness and good times with family and friends—not to mention the food, festivities and, importantly, football rivalries as we celebrate the holidays and the coming of the new year. For all the hope and opportunity, the new year also brings with it a prolonged stalemate in Ukraine, the never-ending wars in the Middle East, and China positioning as a long-term adversary. These things are obvious now and have destabilized societies, supply chains and markets along the way. As we contemplate the new year on a personal level, we can also consider what lies ahead for America as it transitions to a new administration and faces these challenges. Now, more than ever it seems, the U.S. has an opportunity—or rather, an obligation—to lead on the global stage. As a former colleague Robert Kaplan states in his book Earning the Rockies, America is fated to lead!

The five books (plus one) we’re recommending for 2025, each in their own way, illustrate the real-world obstacles, influences and consequences of this assertion. We observe what can happen when evil and lawlessness go unchecked and, at the same time, the strength of the Liberal International Order cultivated by Americans and our allies to promote a more stable and prosperous world. From commerce to military strategy, one can appreciate the influence our country can have on maintaining world order.

In Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?, Harvard scholar Graham Allison explores the conditions and activities among the world’s leading nations throughout history that led to major conflicts. These specific conditions and trajectories, Allison submits, parallel current-day relations between China and the U.S. and the possibility of war between the two. Comparing the similarities of key historical conflicts among dominant nations, Allison focuses his theory on Thucydides’s Trap: a characteristic set of conditions in which a rising power challenges a ruling one, creating a deadly pattern of structural stress that can lead to war. It was the historian Thucydides who first identified this pattern that has occurred 16 times over the last 500 years, with 12 of those resulting in war. Whether the rise of Athens, which threatened Sparta and led to war, Spain versus Portugal in the 15th century, the Hapsburgs versus France in the 16th century, or Germany’s challenges to Britain leading up to WW I, the cyclical pattern of a lesser power going after its much bigger opponent is well documented.

Allison provides a unique perspective with which to view history, but also with which to examine what steps both China and the U.S. could take to avoid war. Even though Allison makes a compelling case that conditions for war among China and the U.S. are ripe, it’s not inevitable, as evidenced by the many historical examples of clashing powers that have avoided war and chose peace instead. I highly recommend this book if you want an in-depth, fully researched look at historical wars and how current-day conditions may mirror the lead up to these past events.

Continuing with the theme of the evolution of conditions that can lead to war, you’ll find a fascinating exploration by authors David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts in Conflict, The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine. For scholars of military history, and even the novice casual observer, this bestseller gets into the gritty details of war straight from those who know all about it. Petraeus is, of course, General Petraeus (retired) who commanded the U.S.-led forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan and is the former CIA Director. Considered a leading American general of his generation, Petraeus brings knowledge, insight and nuance to his analysis of various conflicts spanning more than 70 years. Andrew Roberts is an avid scholar and biographer of luminary wartime leaders including Winston Churchill, Napoleon, George III, Lord Salisbury, and the allied military leaders of World War II.

Together, the authors tap into their collective experience to examine what worked—and didn’t work—in various conflicts including the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, the Arab-Israeli wars and the Gulf Wars (both of them). They also dissect guerilla conflicts throughout Africa and South America. Ukraine alone, the first war really fought with social media, provides a unique look at advancing defense technologies and, sadly, devastating war crimes. I particularly enjoyed how the authors reinforced important themes throughout the book with personal stories or messages from other great leaders. One example is how Henry Kissinger responds to the view of Vietnam that we were lured into becoming the bull in a bull fight by concluding that our efforts were not in vain because they prevented the spread of communism to Indonesia and kept the U.S. viable in Southeast Asia.

Thank you, Scott for offering this great perspective.

In I Love Capitalism: An American Story, author Ken Langone promotes the long-held American belief that no matter a person’s background or family or hardships, free enterprise offers everyone a ticket to the top. He should know. Langone, who was born into a poor family in Long Island, is co-founder of Home Depot, a former director of the New York Stock Exchange and an avid philanthropist worth almost $10 billion. His compelling memoir is full of passionate, fully-lived stories about his journey—his struggles to get an education, break through on Wall Street and develop skills that would make him one of the most iconic deal makers in American business history.

This book is a classic, pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps story that highlights one of America’s biggest strengths: its free-market, supply-and-demand brand of capitalism. Langone reminds us that with true grit, determination and an inspired work ethic, nothing is impossible.

Journalists often have a front-row seat at some of the most crucial political, historical and commercial events that shape and inform our world. That’s the case with Javier Blas and Jack Farchy and their book The World For Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources. Blas and Farchy, reporters who cover energy and natural resources for Bloomberg, provide a fascinating insider’s report on the real-world of commodity traders and how they connect global producers of goods with consumers.

The business of commodities trading, a fundamental cog in the world’s economy, can be sorted, thrilling, deceptive, profitable and risky. The authors dig into the history of some of America’s largest trading houses—their origins, rise to great financial success and, in some cases, horrific falls. The history and practices of commodities trading, from our food, to the gas in our cars, to the energy we consume and how these elements shape geopolitics is offered for our examination.

I love how this book brings the industry to life. Thanks, Paul.

In What Went Wrong?: The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East, author Bernard Lewis takes a deep dive into the rise and fall of the Middle East as compared to other civilizations. Lewis, one of the foremost authorities on Islamic history and culture, takes us from medieval times when Muslims were a dominant power, leading the scientific and cultural expansion and establishing Islam’s global presence, through western Europe’s explosive growth and embrace of Christianity. He details the pivot points—and breaking points—that defined the Middle East, then and now, and what happened that led not only to the fall of the Ottoman Empire, but the diminished state of Islam throughout the years as Christian Europe excelled in enlightened politics, art, culture, industrialism and civic entrepreneurism.

I love this book because it teaches so many lessons on what can go wrong even with a super power nation that is seemingly ahead on all fronts. Success as an individual or as a nation isn’t guaranteed.

Thanks, Charles for suggesting this book and for the bonus recommendation, the inspiring and very brief essay A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard. Written in 1899, the piece is focused on the value of individual initiative and being conscientious with one’s work. The essay tells the story of an American soldier who, just before the Spanish-American war, was asked by President William McKinley to carry a message to Cuban General Calixto Garcia who was with his band of insurgents in an unspecified location in the mountains. The soldier’s tenacity and unwavering commitment in the face of danger, uncertainty about the path he should take, and the great risks he took helped him conquer these harrowing challenges to succeed.

I hope you’ll find these books as interesting and inspirational as I did. With America at a critical geopolitical crossroads, it’s valuable to look at past conflicts and victories among great nations to see what we, as a country, potentially face from our enemies, both from without as well as from within. It’s also helpful to be reminded of what makes Americans strong and resilient and successful, challenging each of us to “Carry a Message to Garcia” in our own way.

Wishing you and yours a blessed holiday season and a Merry Christmas!