The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations: Volume 3, The Globalizing of America, 1913–1945

The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations #3

by Akira Iriye

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. This third volume of the updated edition 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 author also discusses global transformations, from the period of the First World War through the 1920s when efforts were made to restore the world economy and to establish a new international order, followed by the disastrous years of depression and war during the 1930s, to the end of the Second World War. Throughout the book, themes of Americanisation of the world and the transformation of the United States provide the background for understanding the emergence of a trans-national world in the second half of the twentieth century.

Genres: Politics, History

269 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 29, 2013

About the author

Akira Iriye was an historian of American diplomatic history, especially United States-East Asian relations, and international issues. A graduate of Haverford College and Harvard University, he taught at the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of Rochester, and the University of Chicago before accepting an appointment as Professor of History at Harvard University in 1989, where he became Charles Warren Professor of American History in 1991. He was Director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies from 1991 through 1995. He served as President of the American Historical Association in 1988, and also served as president for the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.

Reviews

[Robert Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Profoundly useful. Iriye's book fills in the gaps of a strangely neglected, and vital portion of US history. He does this along two axes. He explodes the common misconception that the US had no involvement abroad in the 1920s and 30s. He also uses his deep research in the field to cover the Asian experience on a more equal footing with Europe than is usually the case. Doing all of this, and wrapping it up in a digestible package of under 250 pages is quite an accomplishment.

It's a short book but a dense one. I have been trying to write about the period, and I find that it functions both as an interesting narrative of the decades covered, but also as a fairly useful reference. Iriye covers a shocking number of the relevant topics for such a short book. It's perhaps best consumed slowly, as there is a ton of information provided.

For me, the highest value was the book's dismissal of the old isolationism myth. There are textbooks on US foreign policy that cover Woodrow Wilson and World War One, then quickly jump to FDR and WWII, dismissing the 1920s and 1930s as a time of "isolationism". Iriye carefully and politely demolishes this view, documenting the many ways, from US control of European finances, to choosing the size of the Japanese Navy, that the US ran the world in the 1920s. This more nuanced take helps to emphasize how damaging the eventual, much briefer period of US isolationism in the mid-1930s actually was.

Iriye also does a good job of addressing the geographical imbalance in covering the run up to World War II. Yes, Germany and Italy were doing nasty stuff, but their destabilizing of the system in the 1930s pales in comparison to Japan's attempts to swallow China. The European malefactors are traditionally more of a focus for US historians, but Iriye does a better job of giving Asia more equal treatment.

All in all, a fantastically useful book.