The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations

Since their first publication, the four volumes of the Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations have served as the definitive source for the topic, from the colonial period to the Cold War. The fourth volume explores the conditions in the international system at the end of World War II, the American determination to provide leadership, and the security dilemma each superpower posed for the other. The entirely new first volume narrates the British North American colonists' preexisting desire for expansion, security, and prosperity, and argues that these desires are both the essence of American foreign relations and the root cause for the creation of the United States. The revised second volume describes the causes and dynamics of United States foreign policy from 1865 to 1913, the era when the United States became one of the four great world powers and the world's greatest economic power. The dramatic expansion of global power during this period was set in motion by the strike-ridden, bloody, economic depression from 1873 to 1897 when American farms and factories began seeking overseas markets for their surplus goods, as well as by a series of foreign policy triumphs, as America extended its authority to Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Panama Canal Zone, Central America, the Philippines, and China. The revised third volume describes how the United States became a global power -- economically, culturally, and militarily -- during the period from 1913 to 1945, from the inception of Woodrow Wilson's presidency to the end of the Second World War. The revised and expanded fourth volume incorporates recent scholarship and revelations, carrying the narrative through the years following the end of the Cold War into the administration of Barack Obama. The author points to the nature of the Stalinist state, with its secrecy and brutal dictatorship, to explain the course of the Cold War. The character of the American political system, including the separation of political powers and the role of interest groups, prompted American leaders to exaggerate dangers abroad to enhance their domestic power.-- Publisher web site