From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776 (160 page)

1921–1941:
Selig Adler,
The Uncertain Giant: 1921–1941: American Foreign Policy Between the Wars
(New York, 1965) reflects the traditional view of an isolationist America rejecting global responsibilities. A more recent overview, Warren I. Cohen,
Empire Without Tears: America's Foreign Relations, 1921–1933
(New York, 1987) emphasizes the variety and extent of U.S. involvement in world affairs. Akira Iriye,
The Globalizing of America, 1913–1945
(New York, 1993) is an important study by a leading diplomatic historian. Joan Hoff Wilson,
American Business and Foreign Policy, 1921–1933
(Lexington, Ky., 1971) highlights a vital element of 1920s internationalism. For the presidential administrations, see Eugene P. Trani and David L. Wilson,
The Presidency of Warren G. Harding
(Lawrence, Kans., 1977) and Robert H. Ferrell,
The Presidency of Calvin Coolidge
(Lawrence, Kans., 1998) and
American Diplomacy in the Great Depression: Hoover-Stimson Foreign Policy
(New York, 1970). There are no up-to-date biographies of Charles Evans Hughes or Frank Kellogg. Waldo H. Heinrichs,
American Ambassador: Joseph C. Grew and the United States Diplomatic Tradition
(Boston, 1966) is especially good on foreign service and consular reform in the 1920s. David Schmitz,
Henry L. Stimson: The First Wise Man
(Wilmington, Del., 2001) and Jeffrey J. Matthews,
Alanson B. Houghton: Ambassador of the New Era
(Wilmington, Del., 2004) are first-rate short biographies of important figures. Robert D. Schulzinger,
The Wise Men of Foreign Affairs: The History of the Council on Foreign Relations
(New York, 1984) and Robert David Johnson,
The Peace Progressives and American Foreign Relations
(Cambridge, Mass., 1995) illustrate the varieties of 1920s internationalism. Three classic studies of U.S. involvement with European issues are Frank Costigliola,
Awkward Dominion: American Political, Economic, and Cultural Relations with Europe, 1919–1933
(Ithaca, N.Y., 1984), Michael J.
Hogan,
Informal Entente: The Private Structure of Cooperation in Anglo-American Economic Diplomacy, 1918–1928
(2nd ed., Chicago, 1991), and Melvyn P. Leffler,
The Elusive Quest: America's Pursuit of European Stability and French Security, 1919–1933
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1979). Neal Pease,
Poland, the United States, and the Stabilization of Europe, 1919–1933
(New York, 1986) and Linda R. Killen,
Testing the Peripheries: U.S.-Yugoslav Economic Relations in the Interwar Years
(New York, 1994) are good on Eastern Europe. For the Washington Conference and disarmament, see Thomas H. Buckley,
The United States and the Washington Conference
(Knoxville, Tenn., 1970), Roger Dingman,
Power in the Pacific: The Origins of Naval Arms Limitation, 1914–1922
(Chicago, 1976), Stephen E. Pelz,
Race to Pearl Harbor: The Failure of the Second London Naval Conference and the Onset of World War II
(Cambridge, Mass., 1974), and Richard W. Fanning,
Peace and Disarmament: Naval Rivalry and Arms Control, 1922–1933
(Lexington, Ky., 1995). For the peace movement, see Charles Chatfield,
For Peace and Justice: Pacifism in America, 1914–1941
(Knoxville, Tenn., 1971), Charles DeBenedetti,
Origins of the Modern American Peace Movement, 1915–1929
(Millwood, N.Y., 1978), and Robert H. Ferrell,
Peace in Their Time: The Origins of the Kellogg-Briand Pact
(New Haven, Conn., 1952). Joseph H. Tulchin,
The Aftermath of War: World War I and U.S. Policy Toward Latin America
(New York, 1971) traces changes in Latin America policy during the early 1920s. Thomas F. O'Brien,
The Revolutionary Mission: American Enterprise in Latin America, 1900–1945
(Cambridge, Mass., 1996) and Michael L. Krenn,
U.S. Policy Toward Economic Nationalism in Latin America, 1917–1929
(Wilmington, Del., 1994) analyze the emerging conflict between U.S. economic expansion and revolutionary nationalism. Lester D. Langley,
The Banana Wars: An Inner History of American Empire, 1900–1934
(Lexington, Ky., 1983) has a chapter on Sandino and Nicaragua. Neill Macaulay,
The Sandino Affair
(Chicago, 1967) chronicles the guerrilla leader's resistance to the United States.

Good surveys of pre–World War U.S. policies are Robert A. Divine,
The Reluctant Belligerent: American Entry into World War II
(2nd ed., New York, 1979), Justus D. Doenecke and John E. Wilz,
From Isolation to War, 1931–1941
(Arlington Heights, Ill., 1991), and especially David Reynolds,
From Munich to Pearl Harbor: Roosevelt's America and the Origins of the Second World War
(Chicago, 2001), which breaks new ground in discussing the beginnings of national security policy. William E. Leuchtenburg,
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal
(New York, 1963) focuses on domestic affairs but gives ample attention to foreign policy. David M. Kennedy,
Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War
(New York, 1999), a prizewinning study, also gives extensive coverage to foreign policy. Robert Dallek,
Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945
(New York, 1979) is the most comprehensive account. Frederick W. Marks III,
Wind over Sand: The Diplomacy of Franklin Roosevelt
(Athens, Ga., 1988) is highly critical. Robert Sherwood's classic
Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History
(rev. ed., New York, 1950) is still valuable. Irwin F. Gellman,
Secret Affairs: Franklin Roosevelt, Cordell Hull, and Sumner Welles
(New York, 2002) gives full coverage to the feud and its impact on policies. Robert S. McElvaine,
The Great Depression: America, 1929–1941
(New York, 1984) and Charles P. Kindelberger,
The World in Depression: 1929–1939
(Berkeley, Calif., 1986) are excellent on the depression, the latter especially on its international aspects. Christopher G. Thorne,
The Limits of Foreign Policy: The West, the League, and the Far Eastern Crisis, 1931–1933
(New York, 1973) is the standard account. Justus D. Doenecke,
When the Wicked Rise: American Opinion-Makers and the Manchuria Crisis of 1931–1933
(Cranbury, N.J., 1984) analyzes the U.S. response. FDR's Good Neighbor policy is studied in Bryce Wood,
The Making of the Good Neighbor Policy
(New York, 1961), Irwin F. Gellman,
Good Neighbor Diplomacy: United States Policies in Latin America, 1933–1945
(Baltimore, Md., 1979), and Frederick B. Pike,
FDR's Good Neighbor Policy: Sixty Years of Generally Gentle Chaos
(Austin, Tex., 1995). Eric Paul Roorda,
The Dictator Next Door: The Good Neighbor Policy and the Trujillo Regime in the Dominican Republic, 1930–1945
(Durham, N.C., 1998) highlights the downside of good neighborism. Recognition of the Soviet Union is covered in Normal E. Saul,
Friends or Foes? The United States and Soviet Russia
(Lawrence, Kans., 2006) and David Mayers,
The Ambassadors and American Soviet Policy
(New York, 1995). Edward M. Bennett's
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Search for Security: American-Soviet Relations, 1933–1939
(Wilmington, Del., 1985) is still useful. For 1930s isolationism and neutrality policies, see Manfred Jonas,
Isolationism in America, 1935–1941
(Ithaca, N.Y., 1966), Warren I. Cohen,
The American Revisionists: The Lessons of Intervention in World War I
(Chicago, 1967), and Robert A. Divine,
The Illusion of Neutrality
(Chicago, 1962). An important aspect of the peace movement is analyzed in Linda K. Schott,
Reconstructing Women's Thoughts: The International League for Peace and Freedom Before World War II
(Stanford, Calif., 1997) and Carrie Foster,
The Women, the Warriors: The United States Section of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, 1915–1946
(Syracuse, N.Y., 1995). Brenda Gayle Plummer,
Rising Wind: Black Americans and U.S. Foreign Affairs, 1935–1960
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1996) charts the rise of African American interest in foreign policy issues. Anglo-American
relations are well covered in David Reynolds,
Creation of the Anglo-American Alliance, 1937–1941
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1982) and B.J.C. McKercher,
Transition of Power: Britain's Loss of Global Preeminence to the United States, 1930–1945
(New York, 1999). Douglas Little,
Malevolent Neutrality
(Ithaca, N.Y., 1985) is good on the Spanish Civil War. Barbara Rearden Farnham,
Roosevelt and the Munich Crisis: A Study of Political Decisionmaking
(Princeton, N.J., 1997) sheds new light on that most memorable of crises. Jeffrey Record,
The Specter of Munich: Reconsidering the Lessons of Appeasing Hitler
(Dulles, Va., 2006) evaluates its lingering effects. Marvin Zahniser,
Then Came Disaster: France and the United States
(Westport, Conn., 2002) looks at the impact of the fall of France. Warren F. Kimball,
The Most Unsordid Act: Lend-Lease, 1941
(Baltimore, Md., 1969) is the standard work on that critical legislation. T. Christopher Jespersen,
American Images of China, 1931–1949
(Stanford, Calif., 1996) provides a valuable context for U.S.-East Asian policies. The best study of the road to war in Asia is Akira Iriye,
The Origins of the Second World War in Asia and the Pacific
(New York, 1987). Waldo Heinrichs,
Threshold of War: Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Entry into World War II
(New York, 1988) shows the connections between events in Europe and Asia and portrays the war much as FDR must have seen it. Justus D. Doenecke,
Storm on the Horizon: The Challenge to American Intervention, 1939–1941
(Lanham, Md., 2000) seeks to rehabilitate the anti-interventionists, and Steven Casey,
Cautious Crusade: Franklin D. Roosevelt, American Public Opinion, and the War Against Nazi Germany
(New York, 2001) is an up-to-date analysis of that important subject. The definitive study of the Pearl Harbor debacle is Gordon W. Prange,
At Dawn We Slept
:
The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor
(New York, 1981). Emily S. Rosenberg,
A Date Which Will Live: Pearl Harbor in American Memory
(Durham, N.C., 2003) looks at its longer-term effects.

1941–1961:
Gerhard Weinberg,
A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II
(New York, 1994) is an extraordinary international history. Gaddis Smith,
American Diplomacy During the Second World War
(2nd. ed., New York, 1985) is a good introduction. Lloyd C. Gardner,
Economic Aspects of New Deal Diplomacy
(Madison, Wisc., 1964) was one of the first books to treat U.S. wartime diplomacy on a global basis. Warren F. Kimball's
The Juggler: Franklin D. Roosevelt as Wartime Statesman
(Princeton, N.J., 1991) and
Forged in War: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the Second World War
(New York, 1997) are indispensable for Big Three diplomacy. James MacGregor Burns,
Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom
(New York, 1970) is readable and still valuable. John Lewis Gaddis,
The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941–1947
(New York, 1972) analyzes those wartime issues that produced the Cold War. Lloyd
C. Gardner,
Spheres of Influence: The Great Powers Partition Europe from Munich to Yalta
(Chicago, 1993) is excellent on those issues that most divided the Grand Alliance. Mark A. Stoler,
Allies and Adversaries: The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Grand Alliance, and U.S. Strategy in World War II
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 2000) is also good on Anglo-American relations, especially as they pertain to military strategy. The divisive issue of colonialism is covered in Christopher Thorne,
Allies of a Kind: The United States, Britain, and the War Against Japan
(New York, 1978) and Wm. Roger Louis,
Imperialism at Bay: The United States and the Decolonization of the British Empire, 1941–1945
(New York, 1978). Randall Woods,
A Changing of the Guard: Anglo-American Relations, 1941–1946
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1990) stresses economic issues. For U.S. relations with Stalin and the USSR, Vojtech Mastny,
Russia's Road to the Cold War: Diplomacy, Warfare, and the Politics of Communism
,
1941–1945
(New York, 1979) and William Taubman,
Stalin's American Policy: From Entente to Detente to Cold War
(New York, 1982) are essential. For China, see Michael Schaller,
The U.S. Crusade in China, 1938–1945
(New York, 1979) and the colorful Barbara Tuchman,
Stillwell and the American Experience in China
(New York, 1970). Kenton J. Clymer,
Quest for Freedom: The United States and India's Independence
(New York, 1995) and Mark Lytle,
The Origins of the Iranian-American Alliance, 1941–1953
(New York, 1987) cover two important wartime topics. As the title suggests, David S. Wyman,
The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941–1945
(New York, 1998) is highly critical of the United States. Henry L. Feingold,
Bearing Witness: How America and Its Jews Responded to the Holocaust
(Syracuse, N.Y., 1995) is important. For the founding of the United Nations organization, see Robert A. Divine,
Second Chance: The Triumph of Internationalism in America During World War II
(New York, 1967), Robert C. Hilderbrand,
Dumbarton Oaks: The Origins of the United Nations and the Search for Postwar Security
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1990), and Stephen C. Schlesinger,
Act of Creation
(New York, 2003). John Dower,
War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War
(New York, 1986) is superb on American and Japanese perceptions of each other. Akira Iriye,
Power and Culture: The Japanese-American War, 1941–1945
(Cambridge, Mass., 1981) offers a very different interpretation. Few issues in U.S. history have been more controversial than the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan in August 1945. A good brief introduction is J. Samuel Walker,
Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs Against Japan
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 2004). One of the major revisionist works is Gar Alperovitz,
Atomic Diplomacy—Hiroshima and Potsdam: The Use of the Atomic Bomb and
the Confrontation with U.S. Power
(rev. ed., New York, 1985). Martin J. Sherwin,
A World Destroyed: The Atomic Bomb and the Grand Alliance
(New York, 1977) is still valuable. Two major recent studies are Richard B. Frank,
Downfall: The End of the Japanese Empire
(New York, 1999) and Tsuyoshi Hasegawa,
Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan
(Cambridge, Mass., 2005).