Siracusa and Warren evaluate the key American presidential foreign policy doctrines from George Washington to Barack Obama. They argue that the articulation of American foreign policy through doctrines represented by speeches and documents, including National Security Strategies, has been apparent in every presidential administration. Throughout their historical analysis, the authors focus on the conflicting desires to be a leader in world affairs while avoiding foreign entanglements, highlighting Washingtons Farewell Address, the Monroe Doctrine, and containment, among other presidential doctrines. The book places current foreign policy debates between internationalism and isolationism within the historical context and contemporary challenges. The books strongest insight is its linking of the past and the present and the demonstration that key presidential doctrines are formulated in reaction to current foreign policy interests and challenges as well as within broader historical trends. Moreover, the authors argue that policy makers use these doctrines to advance American interests and objectives throughout the world, including democracy and open markets. The book should be of great interest to scholars and students of American foreign policy and American history. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. * CHOICE * This excellent overview of the development of key presidential doctrines from Washington to Obama effectively demonstrates how policy makers adapted these essential doctrines to new eras and circumstances in pursuing the national interest. It provides insightful and instructive reading not only for those who study U.S. foreign policy, but also for those who seek to shape it in the present and future. -- Wilson D. Miscamble C.S.C., professor of History, University of Notre Dame In this refreshingly well-written and original book, Siracusa and Warren survey the history of American foreign policy using presidential doctrines, and show an underlying degree of coherence in their advancement of Americas national interests. It is an impressive achievement and a significant and creative contribution to the field. -- Thomas Schwartz, professor of History and Political Science, Vanderbilt University An important examination of presidential doctrines in the creation of American foreign policy that takes seriously the wider international and domestic historical contexts in which presidents were operating. Siracusa and Warren present a refreshing focus on the continuing realist and practical strain of American foreign engagement. -- Bronwen Everill, college lecturer director of Studies in History, University of Cambridge
