Promised Land, Crusader State (First Printing) The American Encounter with the World Since 1776

McDougall, Walter

ISBN 10: 0395901324 / ISBN 13: 9780395901328

Published by Harper Paperbacks, New York, NY, 1997

About this Item

5.9 X 0.76 X 8.8 inches; 286 pages; minor foxing on the exterior edges of textblock. Light yellowing on pages. Very Good condition otherwise. No other noteworthy defects. No markings. ; - Your satisfaction is our priority. We offer free returns and respond promptly to all inquiries. Your item will be packaged with care and ship on the same or next business day. Buy with confidence.

Seller Inventory # HVD-56624-A-0

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Promised Land, Crusader State (First Printing) The American Encounter with the World Since 1776
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks, New York, NY
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0395901324
• ISBN 13: 9780395901328
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: First Edition; First Printing.
• Condition: Good+

About this title

Synopsis

Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Walter McDougall reinterprets the traditions that have shaped U.S. foreign policy from 1776 to the present in "an entertaining and iconoclastic fashion" (Philadelphia Inquirer).

In a concise analysis, McDougall divides American diplomatic history into two stages, which he calls "Old Testament" and "New Testament" phases.

The “Old Testament” phase, which ran from the Revolution to the 1890s, centered on protecting and perfecting America within. The "New Testament" phase, from the Spanish-American War to the present, is more interventionist, featuring competing ideals of containment, expansion, and meliorism. Within the “testament” phases, McDougall goes on to further categorize eight conflicting schools of thought.

Conversational in tone and highly educational, readers will appreciate McDougall’s astute observations and overview of American foreign policy. Crucially, McDougall contends that by projecting U.S. standards and ideals onto other countries, the U.S. repeatedly overextends its resources and pays too a high a price for assuming such risk.

In Promised Land, Crusader State, "McDougall has written a lively and provocative book" (Wall Street Journal) that is "a rich study of the American experience" (Los Angeles Times).

About the Author

Walter A. McDougall received the Pulitzer Prize in history in 1986. A professor of international relations and history at the University of Pennsylvania and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Reasearch Institute, he lives in Philadelphia.