The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations: Volume 4, Challenges to American Primacy, 1945 to the Present

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. The fourth volume explores the conditions in the international system at the end of World War II, the American determination to provide leadership, and the security dilemma each superpower posed for the other. This revised and expanded edition incorporates recent scholarship and revelations, carrying the narrative through the years following the end of the Cold War into the administration of Barack Obama. The author points to the nature of the Stalinist state, with its secrecy and brutal dictatorship, to explain the course of the Cold War. The character of the American political system, including the separation of political powers and the role of interest groups, prompted American leaders to exaggerate dangers abroad to enhance their domestic power. The book also provides insight into Chinese and Soviet actions during the Korean War, the Taiwan Straits crises of the 1950s, and the Cuban missile crisis. It explains the rise and fall of d tente in the 1970s, describes how imperial overreach strained both the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and reflects on what the Cold War meant for the world. This new edition also examines the failure of postwar administrations to provide a workable policy with which to confront the world after the demise of the Soviet Union.

Author: Warren I. Cohen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 04/16/2015
Pages: 396
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 1.30d
ISBN: 9781107536135

About the Author
Cohen, Warren I.: - Warren I. Cohen is University Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Michigan State University, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Professor Cohen has published nineteen books, the best known of which is America's Response to China, 5th edition (2010). In addition to scholarly publications, Professor Cohen has written for Atlantic Monthly, the Baltimore Sun, the Christian Science Monitor, Dissent, Foreign Affairs, the International Herald Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Nation, the New York Times, the Times Literary Supplement and the Washington Post. He has served as the president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations and chairman of the US Department of State Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation. Professor Cohen has also been a consultant on Chinese affairs to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the CIA, the Department of State, two governors of Michigan and three directors of the Michigan Department of Commerce.