The Global Puzzle: Issues and Actors in World Politics

Wow and heavy come to mind when I read this comprehensive 3rd edition of international politics. It's a wealth of information and is more effective if you read it w/ Mansbach's Reader. I found that as a first time student of international poltics, this book is more for people who have a basic understanding and foundation of what the subject matter is. Not to say that's its completely confusing or anything, but certain terms aren't defined anywhere and you might have trouble what he's trying to say. It's not too difficult to grasp though. The concepts are fairly easy to understand and Mansbach, for the most part, does a great job of that. However, in some chapters, he doesn't explain himself well enough (again, for those who are probably know more) for me and I intially got confused. You have to be careful when reading this text. His sentences were a bit verbose and I got lost in what he was trying to say. He also has a tendency in some areas to change topics under designated topic headings but are loosely connected. Perhaps it's b/c I am not fully aware of the context in which he is speaking. Mostly, I enjoyed reading it, even if it made my head hurt after a while. I would suggest this to anyone who has an interest in international politics, or at least as a reference. It's quite a valuable source. He does a great job of showing how everything is linked and gives great examples. He also refers back to chapters and tells the reader if he is going to explain further in other chapters as well. He also gives a detailed bibliography of all his sources used for each chapter which allows readers to find these books and research further. If you read this w/ his Reader, it makes things much easier!