The Idea That Is America: Keeping Faith With Our Values in a Dangerous World

The Washington Post Book World named The Idea That This is America one of the best books of 2007

When Army Captain Ian Fishback decided to blow the whistle on prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan, he posed the central question facing America in the new century: "Will we confront danger in order to preserve our ideals, or will courage and commitment to individual rights wither at the prospect of sacrifice? . . . I would rather die fighting than give up even the smallest part of the idea that is 'America.' "But what is this idea? George W. Bush waged war in Iraq in the name of American values -- liberty and democracy. His critics in the United States and around the world also use the language of values, and attack him for deceiving a nation to wage an unjust war. What are the values that America truly stands for? In The Idea That Is America, a preeminent foreign policy scholar eloquently reminds us of the essential principles on which our nation was established: liberty, democracy, equality, tolerance, faith, justice, and humility. Our ongoing struggle to live up to America's great promise matters not only to us, but also to the billions of men and women everywhere who look to the United States to lead, protect, and inspire the world. In The Idea That Is America, Anne-Marie Slaughter shows us the way forward.

Anne-Marie Slaughter is the Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton and Bert G. Kerstetter Professor of Politics and International Affairs. Former President of the American Society of International Law, she is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and serves on the board of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is the recipient of the 2007 Thomas Jefferson Award for excellence in the field of law.

Dean Slaughter lives in Princeton, New Jersey.