Crucible of Power: A History of American Foreign Relations from 1897 - Softcover

Howard Jones draws on his remarkable breadth as a historian of U.S. foreign relations to produce a distinguished survey of America's growth from an emerging power in the 1890s to its present-day position of global preeminence. His exposition is precise; his sources, exhaustive; his illustrations, revealing; his arguments, lucid. Professor Jones fully recognizes the complexity, inconsistency, and idiosyncrasy that is the hallmark of America's engagement with the world, yet his presentation navigates a century of international rapids with an ease that students will welcome and with an authority that instructors will appreciate. -- Richard H. Immerman, professor and chair, Department of History, Temple University Straightforward and direct, Crucible of Power: A History of American Foreign Relations from 1897 provides students with an accessible means for gaining entree into the history of American foreign relations. It also shows some of the distinctive aspects of American statecraft, notably a concern for the impact of economic and strategic realities, as well as an ideological commitment in defense of national ideals and human rights. The author's balanced approach is exemplary. -- Mark T. Gilderhus, Lyndon B. Johnson Chair, Texas Christian University In a volume characteristic of his broad-ranging and important scholarship on U.S. foreign relations, Professor Jones has written a comprehensive, tempered, and highly accessible narrative account of the nation's twentieth-century international involvements. While demonstrating the complexities facing U.S. policymakers and the limitations on their choices and actions, Jones offers a balanced and probing assessment of their successes and failures. -- Joseph A. Fry, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

This volume relies on the natural chronology of historical events to organize and narrate the story as the nation's leaders saw it. Using this narrative approach, the tangled and often confusing nature of foreign affairs is uncovered without the illusion that in the past, American foreign relations took place in a well-ordered fashion. From this history, students will understand the plight of present-day policymakers who encounter an array of problems that are rarely susceptible to simple analysis and ready solution.