Wars and Peace: The Future Americans Envisioned, 1861-1991

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Overview

Wars and Peace is a historical look at how Americans have tried to conceptualize peace during five national security crises: The Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. Mayers examines the intellectual foundations of U.S. foreign policy since 1861 and analyzes the way that Americans, across the political spectrum and in times of conflict, have conceptualized the eras that would follow hostilities. Mayers looks at history in terms of a current problem: How should the United States fashion its policy in the post-Cold War world? What is striking about previous attempts to impose order on a postwar world, Mayers reveals, is that they failed to fulfill the hopes of their authors. Yet the cumulative impact of these ideas has been to shape the collective imagination in America. Mayers argues that U.S. purpose remains unchanged and like that of every nation: to survive and to prosper.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349385263
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	11/08/2015
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1999
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

David Mayers holds a joint appointment in the History and Political Science departments at Boston University. Among his previous books is "The Ambassadors and America's Soviet Policy," winner of the 1995 book prize of the American Academy of Diplomacy.

Table of Contents

	Preface	vii
	Introduction	1
1	Malice toward None	5
2	Splendid Little War	23
3	Safe for Democracy	39
4	Freedom from Fear	57
5	Evil Empire	83
6	New World Order	109
	Notes	125
	Bibliography	157
	Index	173

Editorial Reviews

Drawing on recent scholarship, Mayers (history and political science, Boston U.) examines the intellectual foundations of US foreign policy during the Civil, Spanish-American, two World, and the cold wars. He focuses on how people who had the weight to influence government policy conceptualized the eras that would follow hostilities. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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