The Most Anticipated Books of the Year

Here are 30 big upcoming releases in our field in 2026, from treatises on the new world economic order to firsthand accounts of some of the greatest conflicts of our time.

Statecraft and foreign policy shape international affairs, but so do ideas—even in our so-called postliterate age . That’s why we’re always eager to scour catalogs of forthcoming books to identify the titles that are likely to influence how practitioners, scholars, and analysts approach their work in the coming year.

Statecraft and foreign policy shape international affairs, but so do ideas—even in our so-called postliterate age. That’s why we’re always eager to scour catalogs of forthcoming books to identify the titles that are likely to influence how practitioners, scholars, and analysts approach their work in the coming year.

Here are 30 big upcoming releases in our field in 2026, from treatises on the new world economic order to firsthand accounts of some of the greatest conflicts of our time.

January

Six book covers for new releases in January.

Cold War on Five Continents: A Global History of Empire and Espionage

Alfred W. McCoy (Haymarket Books, 608 pp. $34.95, Jan. 6)

The history of the Cold War is often told with a focus on the United States and Europe, but in this monumental recasting of the era, historian Alfred W. McCoy spotlights the “surrogate wars” that devastated countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America after World War II, reassessing the period as talk of a new cold war gains steam.

The Triangle of Power: Rebalancing the New World Order

Alexander Stubb (Columbia Global Reports, 216 pp., $18, Jan. 13, paperback)

What comes after the fall of the postwar liberal order? In his latest book, Finnish President Alexander Stubb—who sat down for an interview with FP’s Ravi Agrawal in February—blends theory and practice to examine the forces driving the creation of a new international order today.

The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s

Jason Burke (Knopf, 768 pp., $40, Jan. 13)

In this nearly 800-page book, Jason Burke, the Guardian’s international security correspondent, presents a deeply researched account of th