What happens when a president convinces the world he might just do the unthinkable?

‘Provocative and insightful.’ – Frederik Logevall, author of JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century
‘Essential reading.’ Amie Parnes, co-author of Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House

In US grand strategy and the madman theory, James D. Boys argues that projecting calculated irrationality can terrify adversaries into submission, but at enormous risk.

From Nixon’s secret Cold War gambit to Trump’s chaotic, tweet-driven diplomacy, Boys explores how these two leaders weaponised unpredictability to keep allies guessing and enemies off balance. But where does strategy end and madness begin?

In an era where perception is power, unpredictability becomes a weapon and fear its most deadly edge. This book reveals how calculated chaos reshapes diplomacy, destabilises norms and forces nations to question whether the next move is genius or catastrophe…