Synopses & Reviews
The American Search for Opportunity, 1865-1913 analyzes the period between the American Civil War and World War I (1865-1913) as the formative basis for twentieth-century American world power--"The American Century" as it has become known--and examines the "Imperial Presidency" that these roots produced. The extent of U.S. power was so great that it not only transformed American society, but reshaped other societies around the globe as well, by helping fuel--and in some cases directly causing--the great revolutions of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries in Mexico, Russia, China, Cuba, Hawaii, the Philippines, Panama, and Central America. The book, therefore, not only examines American history, but the history of many other areas that were dramatically affected by U.S. power as they entered the twentieth century.
Review
"Walter LaFeber offers a provocative and arresting thesis--that instead of promoting order, the rise of America to world power had a disruptive impact on the international community at the turn of the 20th century. His book promises to renew interest in a relatively neglected but vital period in American diplomatic history." Robert A. Divine, University of Texas at Austin"These books can be read together, or, thanks to fairly broad and overlapping introductory chapters, they can be read as discrete volumes. They will certainly make an impact on the profession." Canadian Journal of History"Happily, the new, four-volume Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations provides an opportunity to scan the past two centuries for indications of the shape of foreign policy in the post-Cold War world. Each of the four books stands on its own. Each offers a clear overview of a particular period written by a distinguished historian drawing on a considerable body of research, itself the product of decades of scholarly endeavor. None is simply a chronicle of events." World Policy Journal
Synopsis
'Between the American Civil War and the outbreak of world War I, global history was transformed by two events: the United States\'s rise to the status of a great world power (indeed, the world\'s greatest economic power) and the eruption of nineteenth- and twentieth-century revolutions in Mexico, China, Russia, Cuba, the Philippines, Hawaii, Panama, Nicaragua, and elsewhere. The American Search for Opportunity traces the U.S. foreign policy between 1865 and 1913, linking these two historic trends by noting how the United States - usually thought of as antirevolutionary and embarked on a \'search for order\' during this era - actually was a determinative force in helping to trigger these revolutions.\n
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Synopsis
Examining not only American history, but that of many other areas dramatically affected by U.S. power as they entered the 20th century, this volume analyzes the period between the American Civil War and World War I as the formative basis for 20th-century American world power.
Table of Contents
General editor's introduction; Preface; 1. Springboards and strategies; 2. The Second Industrial Revolution at home and abroad; 3. Race for empire; 4. 'America will take this continent in hand alone'; 5. Crossing the oceans; 6. 1893-1896: Chaos and crises; 7. The empire of 1898 - and upheaval; 8. Pacific empire - and upheaval; 9. Theodore Roosevelt: conservative as revolutionary; 10. William Howard taft and the age of revolution; Conclusion: the 1865-1913 era restated; Bibliographic essay; Index; Maps.