Available Now

The Return of Great Powers

Jim Sciutto

The essential new book by CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto. Reporting from Ukraine to Taiwan, Russia to China, the Baltic to the Arctic and from cyber space to outer space, as he documents a new global disorder.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 dawned what Francis Fukuyama called “The End of History.” Three decades later, Jim Sciutto said on CNN’s air as the Ukraine war began, that we are living in a “1939 moment.” History never ended—it barely paused—and the global order as we have known it is now gone. Great powers are reinvigorated and determined to assert dominance on the world stage. And as it escalates, this new order will affect everyone across the globe. Peace has been shattered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but in reality, this affects every corner of our world—from Helsinki to Beijing, from Australia to the North Pole. This is a battle with many fronts: on the Arctic floor, in the oceans and across the skies, and in cyberspace.

Sciutto argues that we are witnessing the return of great power conflict, “a definitive break between the post–Cold War era and an entirely new and uncertain one.” The world order that marked the last thirty years is shifting, and Sciutto details the realities of this new post–post–Cold War era, the increasingly aligned Russian and Chinese governments, and the flashpoint of a new, global nuclear arms race. With savvy, thorough reporting, he follows-up his 2019 bestseller, The Shadow War: Inside Russia's and China's Secret Operations to Defeat America, which focused on the covert tactics of a hidden conflict. The Return of Great Powers is an analysis of a historic and visible shift in real time. And it poses a question: that as we consider uncertain outcomes, we ask whether the West and Russia and China can prevent a new World War.

Jim Sciutto

Jim Sciutto is CNN’s chief national security correspondent and co-anchor of the 1-4pET block of “CNN News Central” out of the Washington, DC bureau.

Sciutto reports and provides analysis across the network’s programs and platforms on all aspects of U.S. national security including foreign policy, the military, intelligence community and the State Department.

Throughout his career, he has reported from more than 50 countries across the globe including dozens of assignments from inside Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran.

Sciutto is the author of a book on Russian and Chinese efforts to undermine the U.S., entitled The Shadow War, published in 2019, and an inside look at President Trump’s foreign policy, entitled The Madman Theory: Trump Takes on the World, published in 2020, both by Harper Collins.. His first book, Against Us: The New Face of America’s Enemies in the Muslim World, analyzes the driving forces behind Islamic radicalization.

Among the honors Sciutto’s work has earned are Emmy Awards, the Edward R. Murrow Award, the George Polk Award and the White House Correspondence Association’s Merriman Smith Award for excellence in presidential coverage

Prior to joining CNN, Sciutto served as ABC News’ senior foreign correspondent, based in London, and the Hong Kong-based correspondent for Asia Business News. Sciutto began his career as the moderator and producer of a weekly public affairs talk show on PBS.

Sciutto has also served as chief of staff and senior advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to China, Gary Locke.

He is a graduate of Yale University, where he studied Chinese history, and was a Fulbright Fellow in Hong Kong. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an associate fellow at Pierson College at Yale.

Jim is married to Gloria Riviera-Sciutto, a journalist and podcaster. They have three children and live in Washington, DC.