American Foreign Policy Since World War II

by Hook S, J. Spanier

Despite its status as the world's lone superpower, the United States confronts a variety of serious challenges in the world today: ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, nuclear tensions involving Iran and North Korea, and strained American relations with allies in the European Union and the United Nations. In updating their book, authors Hook and Spanier find that these new developments are in keeping with the overarching theme of their classic text--that there is an American "style" of foreign policy imbued with a distinct sense of national exceptionalism. Through a thorough understanding of the United States' past actions, students can then fully grasp the functions and frequent dysfunctions of the nation's foreign-policy process. Providing a lively and concise review of the conduct of American foreign policy since World War II, early chapters are strengthened by new historical findings, while recent developments since 9/11 receive thorough treatment and analysis. A stand-alone chapter on the Iraq War provides essential historical context as well as a detailed assessment of recent events across the Middle East. The book's presentation and usefulness are enhanced by new tables and figures, updated photos and maps, and annotated web resources.

Genres: History, Politics, Political Science, International Relations, Nonfiction, American History, School

388 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

Reviews

[Mina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every four years America replaces a stupid president with a more stupid one and anyone can notice this ,After the second world war they replace a fool president , Harry Truman who decided to destroy thousands of Japanese people by the nuclear bomb , by another stupid guy ,Dwight D. Eisenhower who decided also to help France and Israel in their triple war on Egypt in 1956 , and then Lyndon Johnson , John Kennedy and Nixon , the cheater president , continue this bloody war policy in Vietnam for 20 years , And now in the 3rd millennium their descendants , George W. Bush and Barrack H. Obama , continue this policy in Afghanistan , Iraq and Syria and aiming to extend it to the whole world if they can

So, we can abbreviate the American Foreign Policy Since The Second World War

BY

ENDLESS NECKLACE OF BLOODY WARS

[Sarah Weiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

In some ways, I feel like I've been reading this book for 20 years.

My Model UN teacher assigned us the first chapter to read in 9th grade, and it's been sitting on my bookshelf ever since.

This is book is a survey of US foreign policy since WW II. For someone like me, who has never taken a history class on the Cold War, it connected a lot of dots. I still need more information - I haven't connected all the dots on Détente, but this helped. A lot. And it was really cool that I was reading about Kosovo at the same time my mom was in the Balkans.

There are certainly something interesting going on with pacing - when the Berlin Wall falls, it feels like we're only half-way through the book, yet 9/11 only gets a few paragraphs. For a kid born in the 90's, it nice to get more color on events that occurred in my lifetime, but that I was not politically conscious enough to witness.

I've owned this book for a long time. It's going to sit on my shelf for a lot longer. I need to fix its binding. I'm grateful to have it. It's like a compass for the latter half of the 20th century. It only scratches the surface of what happened, but it points me in the right direction.

[Senanur Damar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Çevirisi gerçekten kötü bir kitaptı. Bunun dışında konu ile ilgili bilgisi olan birine yeni bir bakış açısı kazandıracağını düşünmesem de hafıza tazelemek açısından yerinde bir eser olduğunu düşünüyorum.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview, especially if you aren't familiar or want an overarching explanation

[Noah Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative about American foreign policy. Takes an interesting realist perspective. One footnote is out of date due to the suspension of Trumps Twitter.

[Sam Doyel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite being a very slow read, I loved this book. If you'd like to gain a better understanding of global interactions and the Cold War, this is the book for you. While reading this book, you begin to connect the dots and see the secondary and tertiary effects of conflicts or economic events during the Cold War. Spanier sufficiently covers events like the SALT treaties or the Vietnam War, but he digs deeper and gets down into the weeds of lesser known events. For example, he shows the effects of Soviet-Cuba intervention in Angola, the Sino-Vietnamese conflict of 1979, the Suez War, and civil war in El Salvador.

(Unfortunately, I only have the eleventh edition, which ends during Reagan's presidency. However, if Spanier covers the policies of 1990 and on as well as he covers foreign policy in this book, I'd imagine the more recent editions are just as good.)

[Omair Tariq · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book. The book seems to come from a center-right point of view. Nevertheless it discusses key points in American foreign policy has a strong historical element. The book is good in explaining the crisis United States faced in international politics and how policy makers handled those crisis and formulated policies. The book seems to avoid flaws and double standards in U.S. foreign policy, in that sense it fails to connect important events in history which were either a direct or indirect consequence of U.S. policy.

[Ehren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good discussions about the events that shaped US foreign policy since the cold war era. If you are not a history buff, this book will probably be very informative and useful to you.

[Anjuli]

Book in a nutshell: US vital national interests beat common sense. Always.

[Hannah Spaar]

Actually probably one of the best textbooks I've ever used. Not painful at all, though the blow-by-blows of September 11th and the 2008 economic crisis were a little unnecessary.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

American foreign policy has changed throughout its history. Spanier looks at the US's policy during the last half of the 20th century.

[Moll · Rating 2 out of 5]

POSC 280: American Foreign Policy Since 1945

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as heinously boring as I thought it’d be, nor as heinously biased.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for my Defense Foreign Policy class and thought it was a great history of American foreign policy. Good if you're just wanting to take in some history too!

[Eloisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

i had to read it for a research paper. although it was somewhat boring, there were many interesting facts and stories in it about the united states.