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Reading Room   -   Sep 11, 2026 A New Book by Francesco Sisci: Thinking from the Tip of the Spear
A New Book by Francesco Sisci: Thinking from the Tip of the Spear

How does China think about power, political order, war, and its place in the world? Francesco Sisci’s new book, Thinking from the Tip of the Spear: Military Power, Political Order, and the Making of China’s Grand Strategy, approaches those questions through a sweeping historical and comparative lens. One

by Shawn D. Mathis, PhD, MSc (Oxon), MA
Reading Room   -   Sep 09, 2026 The Call That Became a Book
The Call That Became a Book

I wanted two friends to know one another. Professor Andrew Kakabadse was one of my dearest friends, someone with whom I had spent years talking about governance, leadership, institutions, universities, politics, and the human arrangements by which organizations try to hold themselves together. Francesco Sisci had entered my life differently.

by Shawn D. Mathis, PhD, MSc (Oxon), MA
The Fleming Project   -   Aug 29, 2026 Why Does Drax Cheat? The Obligation to Ask Why
Why Does Drax Cheat? The Obligation to Ask Why

Chapter Six The first crack in Hugo Drax’s remarkable public image appears at a bridge table. By the opening chapters of Moonraker, Drax is among the most admired men in Britain: enormously wealthy, celebrated as a patriot, and closely identified with the rocket project that bears the novel’s

by Shawn D. Mathis, PhD, MSc (Oxon), MA
Intellectual Foundations   -   Aug 26, 2026 Enough: Stop Destroying America’s Historic Inheritance
Enough: Stop Destroying America’s Historic Inheritance

The United States enters its 250th year with a historical inheritance far younger than those of the world's older civilizations. Two and a half centuries may seem substantial in a nation's life, yet it is remarkably short compared with the histories of Rome, Greece, China, Britain,

by Shawn D. Mathis, PhD, MSc (Oxon), MA
Venice   -   Aug 23, 2026 The Boat That Became Venice
The Boat That Became Venice

Before dawn, Venice belongs briefly to the people who work on the water. The delivery boats come first. Engines grumble under bridges. Men throw boxes onto wet fondamenta. Somewhere a vaporetto pushes a pale wake against stone steps green with weed. And then, improbably, a gondola appears. It makes almost

by Shawn D. Mathis, PhD, MSc (Oxon), MA
The Fleming Project   -   Aug 18, 2026 The Cave Beneath Mr Big: Seeing the Institution in Live and Let Die
The Cave Beneath Mr Big: Seeing the Institution in Live and Let Die

Chapter Five Ian Fleming gives away the title of Live and Let Die surprisingly early. James Bond has arrived in New York to investigate Mr Big, a powerful criminal leader whom M identifies as a Soviet agent and a known member of SMERSH.[1] Bond wants to go into Harlem

by Shawn D. Mathis, PhD, MSc (Oxon), MA
Institutional Governance   -   Aug 09, 2026 Why Institutions Exist: Ian Fleming on the Human Cost of Evil
Why Institutions Exist: Ian Fleming on the Human Cost of Evil

Chapter Four Near the end of Casino Royale, after Le Chiffre is dead and Bond has survived his torture, James Bond and René Mathis begin an extraordinary conversation about the nature of evil. In the previous chapter, I followed that conversation outward through Fleming's later novels, asking how

by Shawn D. Mathis, PhD, MSc (Oxon), MA
Institutional Governance   -   Jul 25, 2026 Ian Fleming on Evil and Institutional Judgment
Ian Fleming on Evil and Institutional Judgment

Chapter Three Among Ian Fleming’s fourteen James Bond books, only once does he appear to suspend the narrative long enough to ask directly what evil is. The conversation between James Bond and René Mathis near the end of Casino Royale is unlike anything else in the Bond canon.[1]

by Shawn D. Mathis, PhD, MSc (Oxon), MA
A New Book by Francesco Sisci: Thinking from the Tip of the Spear
Reading Room   -   Sep 11, 2026 A New Book by Francesco Sisci: Thinking from the Tip of the Spear

How does China think about power, political order, war, and its place in the world? Francesco Sisci’s new book, Thinking from the Tip of the Spear: Military Power, Political Order, and the Making of China’s Grand Strategy, approaches those questions through a sweeping historical and comparative lens. One

by Shawn D. Mathis, PhD, MSc (Oxon), MA
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Reading Room   -   Sep 11, 2026 A New Book by Francesco Sisci: Thinking from the Tip of the Spear
A New Book by Francesco Sisci: Thinking from the Tip of the Spear

How does China think about power, political order, war, and its place in the world? Francesco Sisci’s new book, Thinking from the Tip of the Spear: Military Power, Political Order, and the Making of China’s Grand Strategy, approaches those questions through a sweeping historical and comparative lens. One

by Shawn D. Mathis, PhD, MSc (Oxon), MA
Reading Room   -   Sep 09, 2026 The Call That Became a Book
The Call That Became a Book

I wanted two friends to know one another. Professor Andrew Kakabadse was one of my dearest friends, someone with whom I had spent years talking about governance, leadership, institutions, universities, politics, and the human arrangements by which organizations try to hold themselves together. Francesco Sisci had entered my life differently.

by Shawn D. Mathis, PhD, MSc (Oxon), MA
The Fleming Project   -   Aug 29, 2026 Why Does Drax Cheat? The Obligation to Ask Why
Why Does Drax Cheat? The Obligation to Ask Why

Chapter Six The first crack in Hugo Drax’s remarkable public image appears at a bridge table. By the opening chapters of Moonraker, Drax is among the most admired men in Britain: enormously wealthy, celebrated as a patriot, and closely identified with the rocket project that bears the novel’s

by Shawn D. Mathis, PhD, MSc (Oxon), MA
Intellectual Foundations   -   Aug 26, 2026 Enough: Stop Destroying America’s Historic Inheritance
Enough: Stop Destroying America’s Historic Inheritance

The United States enters its 250th year with a historical inheritance far younger than those of the world's older civilizations. Two and a half centuries may seem substantial in a nation's life, yet it is remarkably short compared with the histories of Rome, Greece, China, Britain,

by Shawn D. Mathis, PhD, MSc (Oxon), MA
Venice   -   Aug 23, 2026 The Boat That Became Venice
The Boat That Became Venice

Before dawn, Venice belongs briefly to the people who work on the water. The delivery boats come first. Engines grumble under bridges. Men throw boxes onto wet fondamenta. Somewhere a vaporetto pushes a pale wake against stone steps green with weed. And then, improbably, a gondola appears. It makes almost

by Shawn D. Mathis, PhD, MSc (Oxon), MA
The Fleming Project   -   Aug 18, 2026 The Cave Beneath Mr Big: Seeing the Institution in Live and Let Die
The Cave Beneath Mr Big: Seeing the Institution in Live and Let Die

Chapter Five Ian Fleming gives away the title of Live and Let Die surprisingly early. James Bond has arrived in New York to investigate Mr Big, a powerful criminal leader whom M identifies as a Soviet agent and a known member of SMERSH.[1] Bond wants to go into Harlem

by Shawn D. Mathis, PhD, MSc (Oxon), MA
Institutional Governance   -   Aug 09, 2026 Why Institutions Exist: Ian Fleming on the Human Cost of Evil
Why Institutions Exist: Ian Fleming on the Human Cost of Evil

Chapter Four Near the end of Casino Royale, after Le Chiffre is dead and Bond has survived his torture, James Bond and René Mathis begin an extraordinary conversation about the nature of evil. In the previous chapter, I followed that conversation outward through Fleming's later novels, asking how

by Shawn D. Mathis, PhD, MSc (Oxon), MA
Institutional Governance   -   Jul 25, 2026 Ian Fleming on Evil and Institutional Judgment
Ian Fleming on Evil and Institutional Judgment

Chapter Three Among Ian Fleming’s fourteen James Bond books, only once does he appear to suspend the narrative long enough to ask directly what evil is. The conversation between James Bond and René Mathis near the end of Casino Royale is unlike anything else in the Bond canon.[1]

by Shawn D. Mathis, PhD, MSc (Oxon), MA
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