ABSTRACT

The Routledge History of U.S. Foreign Relations provides a comprehensive view of U.S. diplomacy and foreign affairs from the founding to the present.

With contributions from recognized experts from around the world, this volume unveils America’s long and complicated history on the world stage. It presents the United States’ evolution from a weak player, even a European pawn, to a global hegemonic leader over the course of two and a half centuries. The contributors offer an expansive vision of U.S. foreign relations—from U.S.-Native American diplomacy in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to the post-9/11 war on terror. They shed new light on well-known events and suggest future paths of research, and they capture lesser-known episodes that invite reconsideration of common assumptions about America’s place in the world. Bringing these discussions to a single forum, the book provides a strong reference source for scholars and students who seek to understand the broad themes and changing approaches to the field.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of U.S. history, political science, international relations, conflict resolution, and public policy, amongst other areas.

chapter |4 pages

Introduction

part I|99 pages

Major Themes

chapter 1|17 pages

Locating Empire

chapter 2|16 pages

Race, Gender, and Diplomacy

chapter 5|13 pages

Biography

chapter 6|11 pages

Public Opinion

chapter 7|14 pages

Praying for Democracy

Christianity as Cultural Diplomacy in American-Occupied Japan, 1945–52

part II|77 pages

Early Republic

chapter 8|13 pages

Diplomacy and Independence

chapter 9|13 pages

No “Insult Unpunished”

Trade and War in the Mediterranean and North Africa, 1785–1805

chapter 10|15 pages

Britain, France, and the Road to War

chapter 11|17 pages

The Colossus of the North

The Iberian Empires and the United States, 1776–1823

chapter 12|17 pages

China-Oriented

Early American Trade with Asia

part III|57 pages

Age of Manifest Destiny

chapter 13|14 pages

Before Domestic Dependent Nationhood

Entanglements of Indigenous Diplomacy and U.S. Foreign Policy

chapter 15|14 pages

Civil War Diplomacy

chapter 16|17 pages

An Interplay between Manifest Destiny and American Capitalism

Early U.S.-Asia Relations

part IV|71 pages

World Wars

chapter 17|14 pages

Russian Roulette

The United States' Response to the Revolutions in Russia during World War I

chapter 19|14 pages

Where Culture Met Policy

U.S. Foreign Policy toward Europe during World War II

chapter 20|9 pages

More Than a Springboard for U.S. Cold War Hegemony

Asia and World War II

chapter 21|13 pages

Keeping the Peace?

A Closer Look at U.S. Foreign Relations in the Postwar Period

part V|78 pages

Cold War Era

chapter 22|10 pages

Balancing Needs

A Reassessment of Eisenhower's Foreign Policy

chapter 23|16 pages

Vietnam

History as Tragedy

chapter 25|12 pages

American Policy in the Middle East during the Cold War

Interests, Constraints, and Decision-making

chapter 26|11 pages

Decolonization, Human Rights, and Anti-Communism

U.S.-African Relations in the Cold War Era

part VI|31 pages

Global Hegemony

chapter 28|13 pages

Global Hegemony and American Foreign Policy

From the Cold War's End to 9/11

chapter 29|16 pages

Paved with Good Intentions

U.S. Foreign Policy after 9/11