Books

“Should you cooperate with allies, or confront your adversaries? From World of Warcraft and League of Legends to Minecraft and Fortnite, The Gamer’s Guide shows how some of the most popular games are great teachers of international relations and represent real-world political dynamics and strategy. It’s sure to be an exciting read for political scientists and gamers alike!”

— Oliver Kaplan, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver

“In The Gamer’s Guide to International Relations, Michael Allen provides an incredibly comprehensive and highly accessible overview of international relations topics. Seamlessly blending insights from gaming and historical examples, this book will help readers to better understand some of the most important issues and concepts in international relations. It’s incredibly informative, but also incredibly fun to read.”

— Michael Flynn, Kansas State University

“Allen’s The Gamer’s Guide to International Relations combines international relations concepts, theories, and methods with video games, including popular titles with which many students are already familiar or can play for an international relations class. In doing so, this book offers an approach to teaching international relations that is tangible and engaging to students, which is when they learn best.”

— Charmaine N. Willis, University at Albany, SUNY

“This book offers a valuable contribution to the literature on popular culture and International Relations by showing how video games can help make sense of theories, methods, and ongoing research programs in International Relations. The Gamer’s Guide to International Relations thereby charts a course toward further engagement between International Relations and Game Studies.”

— Andrew A. Szarejko, Wartburg College

“Michael Allen’s new book takes us from Starcraft to statecraft. Combining an introduction to international relations theory, a survey of video games and international relations, and a guide to conducting research on world politics, Allen offers an indispensable approach to understanding how video games can teach us about the world.”

— Paul Musgrave, University of Massachusetts Amherst

“The Gamer’s Guide to International Relations is a terrific option for the IR classroom. The book brings to light the important, and often complex theories, models, and controversies of the field in a way that is certain to resonate with college students. Students already play the games that Allen examines, and this book will open their eyes to a much richer tapestry for which to play and learn.”

— Joseph W. Roberts, Roger Williams University

“Beyond the Wire is the most ambitious study to date examining the politics of overseas U.S. military deployments. Drawing on an impressive fourteen country survey and in-depth interviews across three continents, the authors unpack when and how host nations give consent or resist U.S. military presence. Their findings carry deep implications for global hierarchy and the liberal international order.”

— Andrew Yeo, SK-Korea Foundation Chair and Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, and Professor of Politics, The Catholic University of America

“Beyond the Wire offers an illuminating and innovative take on the topic of societal-military relations — on those between individual soldiers based overseas and the communities that host them. The book shows how the character of interactions between foreign military personnel and local citizens can have far reaching implications for international politics. In so doing, it moves civil-military relations research in new and exciting directions.”

— Risa Brooks, Allis Chalmers Associate Professor of Political Science, Marquette University

“This contemporary research rigorously details the many positive, and potentially negative, impacts of US military overseas deployments. It is rich in analysis and insight and an absolute must read for our US national security policy makers, so they more deeply understand how to best shape future military deployments. There is no doubt that Beyond the Wire will have a profound and lasting impact on our national security and foreign policy.”

— General Richard B. Myers, USAF, Ret., 15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and President Emeritus, Kansas State University

“Poli Sci Fi: An Introduction to Political Science through Science Fiction is destined to become a classic. The authors artfully present complex political science concepts, such as theory, epistemology and inter-state relations, through a science fiction lens that is sure to generate high student interest and lively class discussion. This novel book covers the core concepts of an introductory course — the perfect way to breathe new life into Politics 101.”

— Caroline Heldman, Occidental College

“Poli Sci Fi is a fun and entertaining book to help students find political meaning in entertainment. The chapters are crisply written and provide provocative questions to stimulate thought and discussion. Students and instructors alike will find it fascinating!”

— Todd L. Belt, University of Hawai’i-Hilo

“Thoughtful and thorough, this text proves that learning about politics through science fiction represents the best of what our discipline offers students and citizens alike. Poli Sci Fi is engaging, practical, and fun. It will be a must-read in courses across the American, comparative, IR and political theory subfields.”

— Brian Robert Calfano, Missouri State University

“A very helpful supplementary text for introducing undergraduates to political science. Its leveraging of the implied or overt politics in well-known science fiction works will help students to see and understand important concepts and issues in familiar contexts while at the same time avoiding the informational biases and ideological baggage that tend to be tied to specific real-world cases.”

— William B. Heller, Binghamton University