A History of the Monroe Doctrine

by Dexter Perkins

Acknowledgments
Foreword
Preface to the New Edition
The separation of the New World & the old: republican American & monarchical Europe
The first challenge: Monroe hurls defiance at Europe
The challenge recalled: Polk revives Monroe
The hour of peril: France & Spain defy the Monroe doctrine
New pretensions & interpretations: self-confidant American extends the doctrine
The shadow of Germany & other matters: the turn of the century
The policeman of the west: the evolution of the Roosevelt corollary
The doctrine & the League: Monroeism & world peace
The doctrine & the good neighbor: Pan-Americanism & Monroeism
Retrospect & prospect: Monroeism in its broad lines-the future
The original Monroe doctrine
Notes
Bibliographical Note
Bibliography by Chapters
Index

Genres: History

462 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1941

About the author

Dexter Perkins was a historian who served as Professor and Chairman of the Department of American History at the University of Rochester.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This appears to be the definitive study of the Monroe Doctrine, its formulation, interpretations and applications. Primarily a diplomatic history, I found it rather dry.

One interesting note, however. The author mentions in passing the British seizure of the Falkland Islands from Argentina in the early 19th century. His concern with the affair is limited to the fact that this occupation constituted a direct challenge to the recently formulated doctrine, a challenge which was basically ignored. The book having been written before the Argentine attempt to retake the islands, no attention is paid in the book to the ongoing dispute. What I found interesting was that Perkins, no anglophobe he, treats it matter-of-factly as an illegal conquest while I cannot remember anything in the Anglo-American press from the time of the Falklands War to the present which has mentioned this. It would appear therefore that the British Falklands ought be recognized as the Argentine Malvinas from a legal perspective. Seeing that it has evolved into a British enclave in the meantime I'm not saying the English-speakers there should be displaced by Spanish-speakers. I do believe, however, that Argentine rights should be acknowledged and some recompense determined by negotiation.

[RYD · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came away from this book thinking that the Monroe Doctrine was used a lot like the Bible is: It had an authority that could justify whatever its proponents believed at the moment. The timing of Perkins' writing was good, since his work was originally published in the 1940s, just before Pearl Harbor and the dying of the separate spheres of Old versus New World.