Paul Michael Kennedy is a British historian specialising in the history of international relations, economic power and grand strategy. He has published prominent books on the history of British foreign policy and Great Power struggles.
This is a nice collection of essays however it is dated because the last two essays about the cold war and its end, don't capture what has happened in the late 90's and 2000's. The essay on Philip II is indispensable and the introductory essay really lays out a working definition of grand strategy.
Portions of this book were required reading for Strategy & Policy course for JPME I (Joint Professional Military Education, phase I), a war college–level course of instruction that most officers complete by the O-5 level (lieutenant colonel or Navy commander rank). Years after I completed JPME I (in 2009 through the U.S. Naval War College), I went back and read the entire books from which portions had been selected for JPME.
A collection of fascinating essays about great powers and their grand strategies dating back centuries, explaining the relevance of their rise and fall, their successes and failures, to understanding grand strategy today. Four stars only because it's an anthology and because I read it seven years ago, reducing my ability to remember if it was truly worthy of five stars.