U.S. Foreign Policy and the Other: (4 Transatlantic Perspectives)

John Quincy Adams warned Americans not to search abroad for monsters to destroy, yet such figures have frequently habituated the discourses of U.S. foreign policy.  This collection of essays focuses on counter-identities in American consciousness to explain how foreign policies and the discourse surrounding them develop.  Whether it is the seemingly ubiquitous evil of Hitler during World War II or the more complicated perceptions of communism throughout the Cold War, these essays illuminate the cultural contexts that constructed rival identities.  The authors challenge our understanding of “others,” looking at early applications of the concept in the eighteenth century to recent twenty-first century conflicts, establishing how this phenomenon is central to decision making through centuries of conflict.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations List of Contributors Introduction Michael Patrick Cullinane & David Ryan Chapter 1. “No Savage Shall Inherit the Land”: The Indian Enemy Other, Indiscriminate Warfare, and American National Identity, 1607-1783 Walter L. Hixson Chapter 2. Alterity and the Production of Identity in the Early Modern British American Empire and the Early United States Jack P. Greene Chapter 3. Identity, Alterity and the “Growing Plant” of Monroeism in U.S. Foreign Policy Ideology Marco Mariano Chapter 4. Consumerist Geographies and the Politics of Othering Kristin Hoganson Chapter 5. Others Ourselves: The American Identity Crisis after the War of 1898 Michael Patrick Cullinane Chapter 6. The Others in Wilsonianism Lloyd Ambrosius Chapter 7. The Nazis and U.S. Foreign Policy Debates: History, Lessons and Analogies Michaela Hoenicke Moore Chapter 8. How Eleanor Roosevelt’s Orientalism Othered the Palestinians Geraldine Kidd Chapter 9. Necessary Constructions: The Other in the Cold War and After David Ryan Chapter 10. Obliterating Distance: The Vietnam War Photography of Philip Jones Griffiths Liam Kennedy Chapter 11. Remnants of Empire: Civilization, Torture and Racism in the War on Terrorism Arshin Adib-Moghaddam Select Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Michael Patrick Cullinane is Reader in U.S. history at Northumbria University. He is the author of Liberty and American Anti-Imperialism, 1898-1909 (2012) and numerous articles on diplomatic history in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.

Review :
“…the book is a valuable contribution to the field of U.S. foreign policy literature. Its greatest contribution will be in its elucidation of the symbiotic relationship between U.S. identity and the identification of U.S. adversaries, with the recognition that a nuanced understanding of its adversaries may facilitate the drafting of more successful foreign policies… The book should find a wide audience within the foreign policy analysis field and become a valuable addition to many libraries.” · International Social Science Review “The ambitious scope of this book could make it a profitable addition to an advanced undergraduate or graduate seminar. Because each essay is brief, the collection could be assigned with complementary texts to encourage students to put scholars into conversation with each other.” · Journal of American History “…[a] superb, nuanced, and sophisticated discussion of how U.S. foreign policy and processes of Othering have been intertwined in American history that Cullinane's and Ryan's edited book provides.” · H-Soz-Kult “This is an outstanding collection of essays, organized around questions of identity and ‘othering’. The editors are themselves prominent scholars of United States foreign policy. They have assembled an impressive collection of scholars to examine the interplay of identity and policy from colonial times to the 21st century. The combination of social constructivist methodology and historically rigorous scholarship gives this collection an original and distinctive quality.” · John Dumbrell, Durham University “This is a terrific work, one that would be used very profitably by any faculty member teaching a U.S. diplomatic survey course. This manuscript provides an important and engaging counterpoint to triumphalist notions about the great American progress, and as such, it will engender lively classroom discussion.” · Christopher Jespersen, University of North Georgia