Judgment Calls: Finding the Way to Wise Decisions

by Zachary Shore, Adam Hochschild (Foreword)

How can we make better decisions―especially when the stakes are highest? In JUDGMENT CALLS, historian Zachary Shore tackles this timeless puzzle with intellectual daring and uncommon range. Known for his work on peace and war, Shore has never limited himself to a single discipline. Instead, he roams across history, science, culture, and current events to illuminate how we think, where we go wrong, and how we might judge more wisely. This provocative collection brings together essays that confront some of our most challenging questions. How should we remember the twentieth century? Why do even brilliant scientists miss the connections that bind the natural world? What does it take to truly understand our enemies? Did the atom bombs actually cause Japan’s surrender? Could a cultural moment like the death of Robin Williams reveal something about the society we create? With clarity, wit, and a gift for unexpected insight, Shore asks the questions most of us never think to pose―and then leads us toward answers that linger. Surprising, wide-ranging, and deeply humane, JUDGMENT CALLS is an invitation to let history help guide us toward a wiser future.

466 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication November 3, 2026

About the author

Zachary Shore is Associate Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of European Studies, University of California, Berkeley. He previously served on the Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State through an International Affairs Fellowship from the Council on Foreign Relations. He has also worked as a National Security Fellow at Harvard’s Olin Institute for Strategic Studies and at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies in Washington, DC.

Shore earned his doctorate in modern European history from St. Antony's College, Oxford, and has lived for more than six years in Europe, traveling for extended periods across the continent, including Germany, Russia, and the Balkans. His academic honors include winning Harvard's Derek Bok Teaching Award, Oxford's St. Antony's Book Prize, a Dupont Fellowship, an Idea Prize from Germany's Kõrber Foundation, and research grants from the Fulbright Foundation, Smith Richardson Foundation, Earhart Foundation, Daimler-Chrysler Foundation, Robert Bosch Foundation, and the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain. He has appeared on National Public Radio, Dialogue, and other media outlets.

Shore’s articles and editorials on foreign policy have appeared in The International Herald Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore Sun, Newsday, Haaretz, The National Interest, Orbis, The Journal of Contemporary History, and Intelligence and National Security. His books have been reviewed and profiled in Foreign Affairs, The Financial Times, Washington Monthly, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The New Republic On-line.

Reviews

[martyn benny]

Judgment Calls: Finding the Way to Wise Decisions promises to be a thoughtful and timely exploration of one of life's most valuable yet overlooked skills: making sound decisions under uncertainty. Zachary Shore has built a reputation for translating historical insight into practical wisdom, and this book appears poised to offer readers a powerful framework for navigating complex choices with greater clarity and confidence.

What makes this approach especially compelling is the recognition that wise judgment rarely comes from intelligence alone. The best decisions require curiosity, humility, careful reasoning, and the willingness to question assumptions. In an age defined by information overload, polarization, and constant pressure to react quickly, those qualities are more valuable than ever.

The book's likely integration of historical examples with real world decision making offers readers an opportunity to learn from both successes and failures across time. Rather than presenting simplistic formulas, it encourages thoughtful reflection on how experience, perspective, and disciplined thinking contribute to wiser outcomes.

Whether applied to leadership, business, public policy, or everyday life, the principles of sound judgment have universal relevance. Readers interested in critical thinking, leadership, psychology, history, and decision science will likely find this to be an insightful and practical resource.

Judgment Calls has all the hallmarks of a book that encourages readers to slow down, think more carefully, and make better decisions in an increasingly complex world.