A Companion to U.S. Foreign Relations: Colonial Era to the Present

Covers the entire range of the history of U.S. foreign relations from the colonial period to the beginning of the 21st century.

A Companion to U.S. Foreign Relations is an authoritative guide to past and present scholarship on the history of American diplomacy and foreign relations from its seventeenth century origins to the modern day. This two-volume reference work presents a collection of historiographical essays by prominent scholars. The essays explore three centuries of America’s global interactions and the ways U.S. foreign policies have been analyzed and interpreted over time. Scholars offer fresh perspectives on the history of U.S. foreign relations; analyze the causes, influences, and consequences of major foreign policy decisions; and address contemporary debates surrounding the practice of American power.

The Companion covers a wide variety of methodologies, integrating political, military, economic, social and cultural history to explore the ideas and events that shaped U.S. diplomacy and foreign relations and continue to influence national identity. The essays discuss topics such as the links between U.S. foreign relations and the study of ideology, race, gender, and religion; Native American history, expansion, and imperialism; industrialization and modernization; domestic and international politics; and the United States’ role in decolonization, globalization, and the Cold War. A comprehensive approach to understanding the history, influences, and drivers of U.S. foreign relation, this indispensable resource:

• Examines significant foreign policy events and their subsequent interpretations
• Places key figures and policies in their historical, national, and international contexts
• Provides background on recent and current debates in U.S. foreign policy
• Explores the historiography and primary sources for each topic
• Covers the development of diverse themes and methodologies in histories of U.S. foreign policy 

Offering scholars, teachers, and students unmatched chronological breadth and analytical depth, A Companion to U.S. Foreign Relations: Colonial Era to the Present is an important contribution to scholarship on the history of America’s interactions with the world.

Christopher R. W. Dietrich is Associate Professor of History and Director of American Studies at Fordham University. The author of Oil Revolution (2017), he specializes in the history of U.S. foreign relations, intellectual history, the history of decolonization, and the history of capitalism. Professor Dietrich has won fellowships and awards from the National History Center, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, and the American Historical Association.