Dissenting Voices in America's Rise to Power

A major rereading of US foreign policy from the purchase of Louisiana to the Korean War.

David Mayers (Author)

9780521872553, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 February 2007

460 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.84 kg

'David Mayers, the author of several outstanding studies in the history of American foreign policy, makes the 'dissenting tradition' come alive in the present work, with carefully drawn portraits of the debates over major diplomatic episodes from the Louisiana Purchase to the present day. The biographical portraits of diverse figures add fascinating detail to a well-conceived analytical scheme. The author develops with a sure touch important patterns and recurrent themes in the thought of various dissenters. This splendid and erudite work belongs on the bookshelf of every student of American diplomatic history.' David Hendrickson, Colorado College and author of Peace Pact: The Lost World of the American Founding

This book offers a major rereading of US foreign policy from Thomas Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana expanse to the Korean War. This period of one hundred and fifty years saw the expansion of the United States from fragile republic to transcontinental giant. David Mayers explores the dissenting voices which accompanied this dramatic ascent, focusing on dissenters within the political and military establishment and on the recurrent patterns of dissent that have transcended particular policies and crises. The most stubborn of these sprang from anxiety over the material and political costs of empire while other strands of dissent have been rooted in ideas of exigent justice, realpolitik, and moral duties existing beyond borders. Such dissent is evident again in the contemporary world when the US occupies the position of preeminent global power. Professor Mayers's study reminds us that America's path to power was not as straightforward as it might now seem.

Introduction
Part I. Expansion: 1. Louisiana
2. 1812, 53
3. Greece
4. Removals
Part II. Conquests: 5. Mexico
6. Russia, 221
7. Reservations
8. Philippines
Part III. Hazards: 9. Armageddon
10. Axis
11. Containment
12. Dissenters
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS], Politics & government [JP], History of the Americas [HBJK]