The Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations: Volume 2, The American Search for Opportunity, 1865-1913

Description

The American Search for Opportunity, 1865-1913 analyzes the period between the American Civil War and World War I (1865-1913) as the formative basis for twentieth-century American world power--"The American Century" as it has become known--and examines the "Imperial Presidency" that these roots produced. The extent of U.S. power was so great that it not only transformed American society, but reshaped other societies around the globe as well, by helping fuel--and in some cases directly causing--the great revolutions of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries in Mexico, Russia, China, Cuba, Hawaii, the Philippines, Panama, and Central America. The book, therefore, not only examines American history, but the history of many other areas that were dramatically affected by U.S. power as they entered the twentieth century.

'LaFeber's new book The American Search for Opportunity, 1865-1913, is important for one central reason: the debut of an audacious new thesis on the era of modernisation and empire ... LaFeber's thesis is significant in constitutional s well as diplomatic history. This is daring business ... [His] book is a breeze to read - stimulating, lively, fresh ... sometimes rolling with rhetorical power. As his books on the Panama Canal and Central America, he writes informatively and easily about the states and societies with which the United States dealt.' The Journal of American-East Asian Relations 'Happily the new, four-volume Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations provides an opportunity to scan the past two centuries for indications of the shape of foreign policy in the post-Cold War world. Each of the four books stands on its own. Each offers a clear overview of a particular period written by a distinguished historian drawing on a considerable body of research,itself the product of decades of scholarly endeavour. None is simply a chronicle of events.' World Policy Journal 'The four volumes in this new offering from Cambridge University Press provide a magisterial overview of American diplomatic history from the Revolution to 1991. The four authors are all recognised experts in the periods they cover. These volumes are much more than surveys; each author shares with the reader his interpretation of the larger historical scholarship for years to come.' Library Journal