The declaration of the People's Republic of China in October 1949 presented American foreign policy officials with two dilemmas: how to deal with the communist government on the mainland and what to do about Chiang Kai-shek's holdout Nationalist regime on Taiwan. By early 1950 these questions were pressing hard upon U.S. civilian and military planners and policy makers, for it appeared that the Red Army was preparing to invade the island. Most observers...

Chomsky joins noted scholar Prashad in discussions that get to the roots of this unprecedented time of peril and change we face.

In this remarkable and engaging book, William LeoGrande offers the first comprehensive history of U.S. foreign policy toward Central America in the waning years of the Cold War. From the overthrow of the Somoza dynasty in Nicaragua and the outbreak of El Salvador's civil war in the late 1970s to the final regional peace settlements negotiated a decade later, he chronicles the dramatic struggles--in Washington and Central America--that shaped the region's...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the diplomat Putin wants to interrogate-and has banned from Russia-comes a revelatory inside account of US-Russia relations across the three decades following the Cold War. In 2008, when Michael McFaul was asked to leave his perch at Stanford and join an unlikely presidential campaign, he had no idea that he would find himself at the beating heart of one of today's most contentious and consequential international relationships. As...

The status of the United States as a world power, and the nature of power itself, are at a historic turning point. It is essential that we understand and adapt to the new security environment in which we find ourselves. Two of the most respected figures in American foreign policy are Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft -- both former National Security Advisors under markedly different administrations. In America and the World they dissect, in...

A brilliant, sweeping history of diplomacy that includes personal stories from the noted former Secretary of State, including his stunning reopening of relations with China. The seminal work on foreign policy and the art of diplomacy. Moving from a sweeping overview of history to blow-by-blow accounts of his negotiations with world leaders, Henry Kissinger describes how the art of diplomacy has created the world in which we live, and how America's...

"For close to a decade, technology analyst Dan Wang has been living through the country's astonishing, messy progress. China's towering bridges, gleaming railways, and sprawling factories have improved economic outcomes in record time. But rapid change has also sent ripples of pain through the society. This reality--political repression and astonishing growth--is not a paradox, but rather a feature of China's engineering mindset. In Breakneck, Wang...

In Superpower Illusions, Jack F. Matlock refutes the enduring idea that the United States forced the collapse of the Soviet Union by applying military and economic pressure-with wide-ranging implications for U.S. foreign policy. Matlock argues that Gorbachev, not Reagan, undermined Communist Party rule in the Soviet Union and that the Cold War ended in a negotiated settlement that benefited both sides. He posits that the end of the Cold War diminished...

Now in a fully updated edition, this compact and accessible introduction offers a historical perspective on the evolution of U.S. foreign policy from the founding to the present. Joyce P. Kaufman provides students with a clear and concise understanding of key decisions and why they were made. She identifies the major themes that have guided foreign policy, and the reasons that the United States pursued the policies that it did in the context of specific...

In Imperfect Strangers, Salim Yaqub argues that the 1970s were a pivotal decade for U.S.-Arab relations, whether at the upper levels of diplomacy, in street-level interactions, or in the realm of the imagination. In those years, Americans and Arabs came to know each other as never before. With Western Europe's imperial legacy fading in the Middle East, American commerce and investment spread throughout the Arab world. The United States strengthened...