America in the World - by Jeffrey A Engel & Mark Atwood Lawrence & Andrew Preston (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A wide-ranging anthology of primary texts in American foreign relations--now expanded to include documents from the Trump years to today

How should America wield its power beyond its borders? Should it follow grand principles or act on narrow self-interest? Should it work in concert with other nations or avoid entangling alliances? America in the World captures the voices and viewpoints of some of the most provocative, eloquent, and influential people who participated in these and other momentous debates. Now fully revised and updated, this anthology brings together primary texts spanning a century and a half of U.S. foreign relations, illuminating how Americans have been arguing about the nation's role in the world since its emergence as a world power in the late nineteenth century.

• Features more than 250 primary-source documents, reflecting an extraordinary range of views
• Includes two new chapters on the Trump years and the return of great power rivalries under Biden
• Sweeps broadly from the Gilded Age to emerging global challenges such as COVID-19
• Shares the perspectives of presidents, secretaries of state, and generals as well as those of poets, songwriters, clergy, newspaper columnists, and novelists
• Also includes non-American perspectives on U.S. power

Review Quotes

"America in the World would be an excellent addition to a modern American history curriculum, since it requires readers to encounter history from the history makers' perspectives."-- "Choice"

"Extremely rich and well organised. . . . This documentary collection is in many regards outstanding and the editors are to be commended for deftly crafting an anthology we shall all use for many years to come."---Mario Del Pero, European Review of International Studies

"This is a very good book, it is an extremely brave attempt at an almost impossible subject given the time scale. It will be extremely useful to those starting out on their quest for knowledge of a super power's, United States of America, foreign policy. If it doesn't list every turn in the road, along the way, it most certainly points one in the right direction."---Don Vincent, Open History

About the Author

Jeffrey A. Engel is founding director of the Center for Presidential History and professor of history at Southern Methodist University. Mark Atwood Lawrence is professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin and director of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum. Andrew Preston is professor of American history at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Clare College.