Chokepoints

Financial Times Business Book of the Year 2025 Shortlist

“Deftly written, Chokepoints is a compelling and dramatic narrative about the new shape of geopolitics…[Fishman] has written an engrossing account of contemporary history. He provides a framework for understanding the battles to come as well as the growing challenges and risks facing companies that operate in the global economy…[A] timely guide to the fragmenting of the global economy and the rising tensions that go with it.”
— Daniel Yergin, The Wall Street Journal

“A timely, riveting world tour….Edward Fishman, a former official at both the Department of State and the Department of the Treasury, describes how the American government’s unglamorous economic arms have jumped into the middle of the country’s geopolitical fights over the past two decades….[Chokepoints] contains a satisfying amount of dash and drama….It also makes for a cracking yarn….[An] absorbing book.”
— The Economist

“A masterful narrative of U.S. economic warfare in the 21st century….Fishman’s clear and thoughtful writing weaves the story together.”
— Financial Times

“A delightful read on two decades of economic warfare by a former practitioner who knows exactly what he is talking about.…What Chokepoints does swimmingly is to bring everything together, explaining both how the United States acquired the outsized power to punish anyone, anywhere, and how it learned to use and abuse that power.…For a reader looking for an accessible guide to how we got here and what is coming next, Fishman’s book is invaluable.”
— Foreign Policy

“Remarkable…One of the most important books on economic warfare ever written.”
— Paul Kennedy, author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers

“This is the must-read book of the month for me: Eddie Fishman’s Chokepoints. Those who write about war and geopolitics for a living are generally poor at economic warfare. This book is a great place to start.”
— Niall Ferguson, author of The Ascent of Money

“An important study of how we entered this new world—and what might come next….At every step, policymakers stumblingly realized just how much political leverage the economic infrastructure granted them….Fishman also shows politicians eager to wield this new, less bloody implement for coercing other nations.”
— City Journal

“Densely reported but fast-moving…The book is written to keep the reader moving, short chapters introduced with journalistic flourishes. Character traits are sharply noted, short anecdotes from lives away from work help present diplomats and bureaucrats in sharp relief. The importance of the sanctions policy such characters have shaped over the last 20 years is hard to overstate.”
— The Guardian

“Fishman chronicles the pivotal moments in this new era of economic warfare…by following the public servants who built America’s economic arsenal….It’s the people behind the scenes who take center stage. The book even features a cast of characters that wouldn’t feel out of place in the appendix of a George R.R. Martin novel….These details create the atmosphere of a backroom political thriller.”
— Big Think

“A gripping, firsthand account of America’s efforts to weaponize the world economy against its resurgent adversaries. From the high-stakes campaign to halt Iran’s nuclear program to the cutting-edge strategy to deny China access to AI chips, Chokepoints is an unparalleled guide to America’s use of sanctions and export controls over recent decades. Essential reading for understanding the new age of economic warfare.”
— Chris Miller, author of Chip War

“Brilliant and eye-opening—weaving together economic, geopolitical, and strategic analysis. Edward Fishman’s riveting account of the global economic ‘battlefield’ sheds fascinating new light on our struggles with Iran, Russia, and China. An indispensable book for anyone who wants to understand current and future conflicts.”
— General Stanley McChrystal, U.S. Army (Ret.), former Commander of U.S. and International Forces in Afghanistan and author of Team of Teams and My Share of the Task

“This peerless contemporary history of American sanctions, grounded in personal experience and thorough research, will guide all who wish to address global problems through the responsible and effective use of economic power.”
— Timothy Snyder, Professor of History at Yale University and author of On Tyranny and Bloodlands

“How can America sustain its economic and financial advantage in the face of fierce geopolitical competition? Chokepoints provides the playbook. Edward Fishman traces the historical evolution of economic warfare, taking readers behind the scenes of the U.S. campaigns to counter China’s economic aggression, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and Russia’s revanchism. Along the way, Fishman uncovers valuable strategic lessons and makes compelling recommendations that leaders in government and business must implement urgently.”
— Lt. General H. R. McMaster, U.S. Army (Ret.), former White House National Security Advisor and author of Battlegrounds and At War with Ourselves

“Brilliant, timely, and impossible to put down, Chokepoints is one of those rare books that utterly changes how you see the world. Edward Fishman pulls back the curtain on the hidden world of economic warfare, telling the untold story of how a rogue group of U.S. officials quietly reinvented U.S. foreign policy. He puts readers in the room as policymakers experiment with sanctions and other once-obscure tools to fight the biggest geopolitical threats of the day: a nuclear Iran, a resurgent Russia, and an assertive China. Combining the insider knowledge of a practitioner, the analytical insight of a scholar, and the narrative instincts of a born storyteller, Fishman has written a book that is as engrossing as it is urgent. No one seeking to understand the global economy or America’s role in the world can afford to ignore this indispensable page turner.”
— Stuart A. Reid, Executive Editor of Foreign Affairs and author of The Lumumba Plot

“Chokepoints is essential reading to understand the modern reinvention of American foreign policy. Edward Fishman expertly unravels the world of economic warfare, exploring how the United States weaponizes its dominance in global finance to confront its adversaries. Sound familiar?”
— Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group

“Chokepoints is the best book on sanctions that I have ever read—a tour de force that illuminates in spellbinding detail how economic warfare is reshaping the world. Edward Fishman combines his deep knowledge of the subject with a dynamic, engaging writing style, recasting U.S. government technocrats as superheroes fighting high-stakes economic battles. Sanctions are at the center of geopolitical competition today. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand how the world works in the 21st century.”
— Michael McFaul, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Professor at Stanford University, and author of From Cold War to Hot Peace

“In this timely and highly readable book, Edward Fishman demystifies and humanizes one of today’s most complex and consequential subjects: America’s use of economic power as a tool of 21st-century warfare. Drawing on his firsthand experience at the State Department, Fishman takes readers inside Washington’s back corridors, revealing how U.S. officials raced to create new economic weapons to counter a trio of formidable challenges: Russia’s imperial aggression, China’s drive for technological dominance, and Iran’s nuclear ambitions. An invaluable book for anyone who wants to understand the risks, trade-offs, and limitations of America’s weaponization of the world economy.”
— Fiona Hill, former Senior Director for Europe and Russia at the National Security Council and author of There is Nothing for You Here

“Edward Fishman has done the impossible: he has written a book about America’s strategic economic policies that is at once grand in scope, meticulously researched, and, above all, a lively and captivating read. Those interested in how the United States uses its economic power as a strategic weapon in today’s dangerous and complex world need look no further. This book is a gem.”
— Robert Kagan, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of The Ghost at the Feast and Of Paradise and Power

“This book should be required reading on both sides of the Atlantic as the West faces a geopolitical reckoning. Edward Fishman, a scholar-practitioner with deep insider knowledge from his time in government, provides a gripping account of the rise of a new form of economic warfare. Chokepoints is written with an eye to both the general and the specific, skillfully blending the Olympian big picture with wonderful vignettes of how the world economy works. Fishman argues convincingly that the West cannot have economic interdependence, economic security, and great power competition at the same time. We will have to make a choice quickly, before it is made for us.”
— Brendan Simms, Professor in the History of International Relations at the University of Cambridge, Director of the Centre for Geopolitics, and author of Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy, from 1453 to the Present

“Sanctions are vital weapons in the war for global power and influence. Chokepoints is a master class in how sanctions work, and why, sometimes, they don’t. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand global competition today.”
— Hal Brands, Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and author of Danger Zone

“Chokepoints is a compelling exploration of how economic infrastructure increasingly shapes geopolitics—illuminating the history, inner workings, and future stakes of this important 21st-century phenomenon. An excellent read for anyone seeking to understand how power will be wielded in the years to come.”
— Patrick Collison, co-founder and CEO of Stripe