As distinctive as it has been, the Bush administration’s foreign policy still fits within Hook and Spanier’s coherent theme of American exceptionalism. Chances are that the Obama administration, no matter how different it may be, will also share this orientation in important ways, thereby giving your students the historical context they need to understand not just the past eight years, but the full history of American foreign policy since World War II.
This revision to their classic text is much more than a simple update. Careful editing and streamlining of key chapters keep the book relevant and accessible, while placing recent events in their proper perspective.
Key revisions include:
- Previously separate chapters on U.S. relations with the developing world and U.S. involvement in Vietnam have been combined to show the collision of East- West and North-South relations.
- Chapters on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are thoroughly updated.
- Full treatment is given to the current economic crisis.
- A new concluding chapter makes note of the changing of the guard from Bush to the Obama administration, and looks ahead to Obama’s leadership, strategic goals, and policy initiatives.
Students will also find abundant resources in new or updated tables, figures, and maps, as well as a robust set of appendixes and end-of-chapter materials, including a chronology of world events and annotated web resources.
Table of Contents
1. American Approach to Foreign Policy
2. From World War to Cold War
3. Containment from Theory to Practice
4. North-South Relations and the Vietnam Trauma
5. Détente and World Order Politics
6. Revival of Superpower Confrontation
7. End of the Cold War
8. America’s Unipolar Moment
9. Old Tensions in a New Order
10. The Shifting European Landscape
11. America Under Fire
12. Hot Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
13. A World of Trouble
14. Restoring American Power and Principle
Testimonials
“Hook and Spanier’s book stands out for the way in which it couples a serious, informed and yet accessible treatment of major events and crises in U.S. foreign policy with a thoughtful treatment of the underlying controversies and debates about America’s world role. I know of no other book that does this so well. American Foreign Policy Since World War II is the ideal text for courses on the subject.”
- Robert J. Lieber, Georgetown University“Hook and Spanier offer a timely overview of post-1945 U.S. foreign policy which illuminates the continuing influence of alternative versions of Cold War containment thinking rooted, somewhat uncomfortably, in realism and the challenges posed by the gap between principles and practice. They probe the dilemmas which arise as U.S. traditions and values complicate the global leadership role of the U.S. and provide the basis for comparing similarities and differences in the 20th and 21st centuries. Students have trouble no making connections between the earlier periods and the issues facing the U.S. and the world today.”
- Judy B. Krutky, Baldwin-Wallace College
Bio(s)
Steven W. Hook, Kent State University
Steven W. Hook is associate professor of political science at Kent State University. He is the author of U.S. Foreign Policy: The Paradox of World Power, 2nd Edition, National Interest and Foreign Aid, and editor of Comparative Foreign Policy: Adaptation Strategies of the Great and Emerging Powers, and Foreign Aid Toward the Millennium. He is a past president of the Foreign Policy Analysis sections of the American Political Science Association and the International Studies Association.
John Spanier, University of Florida
John Spanier received his PhD from Yale University. Since joining the faculty of the University of Florida in 1957, Spanier has lectured at the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Service Institute, the Naval War College, military service academies, and several universities. Among his many other books is Games Nations Play.
