The book argues that leaders lie to foreign audiences as well as their own people because they think it is good for their country, citing the example of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's lie about the Greer incident in August 1941, due to a deep commitment to getting the United States into World War II, which he thought was in America's national interest.

Mearsheimer argues that leaders are most likely to lie to their own people in democracies that fight wars of choice in distant places.

He concludes that it is easier for leaders to lie to their own people because there is usually a good deal of trust between them.

The work attracted several positive reviews, with both The Washington Post and Foreign Affairs describing the book as "fascinating".

[2][3][4] The Oxonian Review criticised the book's realist perspective for understating the disadvantages of lying.