Crucible Of Power

by Howard Jones

Overview

Crucible of Power: A History of American Foreign Relations to 1913 presents a straightforward, balanced, and comprehensive history of American international relations from the American Revolution to 1913.

This core text demonstrates the complexities of the decision-making process that led to the rise and decline of the United States (relative to the ascent of other nations) in world power status. Howard Jones focuses on the personalities, security interests, and expansionist tendencies behind the formulation and implementation of U.S. foreign policy and highlights the intimate relationship between foreign and domestic policy. Students will gain an understanding of the historical antecedents of the nation's twentieth-century foreign policy.

This volume relies on the natural chronology of historical events to organize and narrate the story as the nation's leaders saw it. Jones uncovers the tangled and often confusing nature of foreign affairs by taking the narrative approach and does not create the illusion that American foreign relations took place in a well-ordered fashion. This book will help students understand the plight of present-day policymakers who encounter an array of problems that are rarely susceptible to simple analysis and ready solution.

Two-color format is used to make the text more visually appealing and easier to read. Maps provide easy reference and important context, and photographs make the book more visually exciting. Each chapter ends with a list of suggested readings, giving students additional resources for exploration and research.

This text is ideal for American diplomatic history survey courses and courses on American foreign policy from the American Revolution to the present.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780842029162
Publisher:	Sr Books
Publication date:	02/28/2002
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	322
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Howard Jones is University Research Professor in the Department of History at University of Alabama.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1: The Revolutionary Beginnings of American Foreign Policy, 1775–1789
Chapter 2: The Federalist Era and the Wars of the French Revolution, 1789–1801
Chapter 3: Jeffersonian Diplomacy, 1801–1809
Chapter 4: The War of 1812 and the Completion of American Independence, 1809–1817
Chapter 5: The Diplomacy of Hemispheric Order, 1817–1825
Chapter 6: To the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 1825–1842
Chapter 7: Destiny and Annexation: Oregon, Texas, and the Mexican War, 1842–1848
Chapter 8: Between the Wars, 1848–1861: Young America and the Paradox of Slavery and Freedom
Chapter 9: The Civil War, 1861–1865
Chapter 10: Prelude to American Imperialism, 1865–1897
Chapter 11: U.S. Imperialism and the New Manifest Destiny, 1897–1900
Chapter 12: Theodore Roosevelt and the Search for World Order, 1900–1913

What People are Saying About This

Thomas M. Leonard

A readable and comprehensive survey of American foreign policy from the time of independence to the eve of World War I.
— Thomas M. Leonard, Distinguised Professor, University of North Florida

Lawrence S. Kaplan

This well-written and well-balanced book merits the attention of all students of American foreign relations.
— Lawrence S. Kaplan, Georgetown University

Editorial Reviews

Howard Jones has written a definitive history of American foreign relations before 1913. He reminds us once again that U.S. foreign policy did not begin in 1898 as he develops a narrative that is detailed but never boring. Those often forgotten years come alive as he moves from the uncertain nation of 1783 to the powerful one of 1913.

Anna Kasten Nelson

A readable and comprehensive survey of American foreign policy from the time of independence to the eve of World War I. Jones interweaves traditional security and economic themes with the domestic considerations that drove the decisions of U.S. policymakers. At the same time, he reminds readers about U.S. idealism—the nation's confidence in its own system and society—that contributed to the making of a world's leader.

Thomas M. Leonard

Historians will welcome Jones's approach, one that evenhandedly addresses but does not belabor historiographical debates, but one that also gives more than just the facts. The survey provides context, analysis of the good and the bad, and a non-compartmentalized look at issues, people, and events. Jones demonstrates that, from Tom Paine to Teddy Roosevelt, Americans were concerned with surviving in a dangerous world by building and exercising power abroad.

Thomas W. Zeiler

It is a pleasure to see the publication of Howard Jones's history of American foreign relations. The author has drawn from his own impressive contributions to illuminate the often neglected role of diplomacy in the nineteenth century. This well-written and well-balanced book merits the attention of all students of American foreign relations.

Lawrence S. Kaplan

Jones (history, U. of Alabama) demonstrates the complexities of the decision-making process that led to the rise and decline of the US relative to the ascent of other nations in world power status. He focuses on the personalities, security interests, and expansionist tendencies. The approach is narrative, he says, because a thematic approach would impose a design on events that did not exist. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews