Can increasing power in international politics be a bad thing for nations? In this provocative book, Giulio Gallarotti argues that the answer is clearly yes—as demonstrated by a series of examples that span geography, history, and issues. Gallarotti systematically develops the idea of the power curse and its concomitant, the power illusion. Establishing that the process by which nations augment power can produce adverse consequences, he goes further to show how, to the extent that they fail to correct for the negative effects of power, governments choose foreign policy strategies that are ultimately self-defeating. He cogently supports his theory in discussions of ancient Greece, nineteenth-century Britain, and the United States during both the Vietnam War and the George W. Bush administration.