The Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations: Volume 4, America in the Age of Soviet Power, 1945–1991

This is an elegant and concise history of American foreign relations during the Cold War era, based on the most recent American, Chinese, and Soviet literature, written from a post-Cold War perspective. All of the major foreign policy issues, including the origins of the Soviet-American conflict; the extension of the confrontation to Asia, the Middle East, and elsewhere on the periphery; wars in Korea and Vietnam; crises involving the Taiwan Straits, Berlin, and Cuba; the rise and fall of détente; imperial overreach; and the critical roles of Reagan and Gorbachev in the 1980s are carefully analysed and clearly explained.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments; Prelude; Part I. At War's End: Visions of a New World Order; Part II. Origins of the Cold War; Part III. The Korean War and its Consequences; Part IV. New Leaders and New Arenas in the Cold War; Part V. Crisis Resolution; Part VI. America's Longest War; Part VII. The Rise and Fall of Detente; Part VIII. In God's Country; Conclusion: America and the World, 1945–1991; Bibliographic Essay; Index.

Review :
"Drawing upon recent scholarship and using new as well as traditional approaches, four distinguished historians provide...excellent summaries of the international history of the United States from its emergence as a nation to its global involvement as a great power. Each author gives a distinctive interpretation to the period covered, yet together the four volumes furnish a cohesive overview of the history of U.S. foreign relations." The Historian "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 "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 "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 "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 "...lucid, balanced and readable....the best available survey of American foreign policy during the postwar period. America in the Age of Soviet Power provides an excellent starting point for exploring the story of postwar foreign policy." Jonathan Rosenberg, Boston Book Review