Year of the Earth Serpent Changing Colors. A Novel.

Hall Gardner is Full Professor in the Department of History and Politics and former Chair of the Department of International Politics from Spring 1992 to Spring 2019 at the American University of Paris, France. His publications include: Toward an Alternative Transatlantic Strategy: Biden, the EU, and the ‘new’ Multilateralism (2022); IR Theory, Historical Analogy, and Major Power War (2019); World War Trump: The Risks of America’s New Nationalism (2018); American Global Strategy and the "War on Terrorism" (2005/2013); and The Wake-Up Blast: Thirty Years of Poetic Protest (2008).

Hall Gardner’s wonderful Year of the Earth Serpent Changing Colors offers an extraordinary illustration of the dynamics of humiliation and delivers a lesson the world would needs to learn. Research shows that humiliation is the most intense human emotion — it leads to the mobilisation of more processing power and a greater consumption of mental resources than any other emotion. Victims of humiliation never forget. Humiliators, on the other hand, are often oblivious of their deeds or they justify them (even while being silently consumed by their own deeds from inside). Therefore, humiliators are often shocked when confronted with the consequences of their deeds, be it revenge coming their way or attempts of peace making.

Evelin Lindner, Dr. med., Dr. psychol., founding president of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies and co-founder of the World Dignity University initiative

"Hall Gardner has given us a timely and compelling narrative of two civilizations as the world witnesses rising Chinese power. A magnificent achievement."

- Matthew Fraser, author of In Truth: A History of Lies from Ancient Rome to Modern America