Books The American Encounter: The United States And The Making Of The Modern World: Essays From 75 Years Of Foreign Affairs
Books and Publications Average Rating:

Rating: - Contemporary words, timeless significance
The essays in this volume range from extremely good to outstanding to outright brilliant. Collectively, these forty-two essays chronicle the evolution of American foreign policy-its intellectual and political struggle to deal with the world since 1922. This compilation is divided into decades-1930s, 1940s, and so on, each dealing with the dominant themes of that decade, ranging from the founding of Foreign Affairs in 1922 to its 75th anniversary in 1997.

Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of essays: on one hand are those essays for which the reader will have a historical interest-as a snapshot of contemporary debates; on the other, there are essays which probe timeless themes and their ideas can be as applicable today as they were when they were first written. What is most exciting is when essays combine the two-capturing the essence of past debates while developing timeless themes and arguments for posterity to refer to. It is in these cases that "Foreign Affairs" is at its best.

It is impossible, for example, to read Fouad Ajami's "The end of Pan-Arabism" without feeling that you're getting a deeper understanding of the Middle East, one that is as necessary today as it was when it was written in 1978. Or, to read David Fromkin's "Strategies of Terrorism," without drawing parallels with Al-Qaeda and the United States and their own battle against each other. Or to read Richard Cooper propose a world currency without thinking how many of the problems we face today were anticipated back in the 1980s. Or Julien Brenda counter the case the pacifism and democracy go hand in hand, without thinking how the two ideas have been so connected in our minds today. Or, reading Hans Morgenthau discuss intervention and non-intervention in Viet Nam without drawing lessons about America's contemporary strategic debate which revolves around the same questions.

Inevitably, every reader's list of favorites will vary-the anthology, after all, is so diverse as to placate everyone's appetite. There are essays on war and peace, international economics, development, terrorism, nationalism, isolationism, containment, imperialism, human rights, and technology; and there are more specific ones that deal with the interwar period, the Cold War, the war in Viet Nam, decolonization in Africa, on the Middle East in the 1970s, on American foreign policy, on the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and on the war in the former Yugoslavia.

The authors too are drawn from all specters of political debates. They include such theoretical legends as Hans Morgenthau and Samuel Huntington; key political players as Henry Kissinger, George F. Kennan, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Nikolai Bukharin; economists as Paul Krugman and Richard Cooper; journalists as Walter Lippmann, Irving Kristol, and Hamilton Fish Armstrong; and others as Fouad Ajami, David Fromkin, Isaiah Berlin, W.E.B. Du Bois, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Aleksandr Solzhenistym, and others.

As a primary source, but also a reference on what some of the brightest minds of the century had to say on the important issues of the day, "The American Encounter" cannot be absent from the library of anyone who is serious about understanding the international politics of the twentieth century.

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Rating: - The evolution of the American foreign policy Establishment
This is a collection of articles from Foreign Affairs, which is the journal of the internationalist (and since WWII the dominant) wing of the American foreign policy Establishment. The selection choice of articles was pretty good and interesting, though I am disappointed that they did not publish any articles from the Dulles brothers. Members of Yale secret societies, however, are well represented.

Some of the more revealing articles are:
Elihu Root's lead article in the first issue, a sort of mission statement for the purpose of the journal.
Hamilton Fish's reflection on fifty years of interventionist foreign policy.
Walter Lippmann's smear job on Senator Borah (he later suggested waging political warfare on isolationist congressment to the head of BSC during WWII, and they were quite successful).
The articles of members affiliated with the Royal Institute of International Affairs before WWII.
George Kennan's 'X' article suggesting containment among others.

For anyone interested in American political history and foreign policy in particular, this is an excellent book to possess. The pictures of some of the writers were also very interesting, I particularly enjoyed the picture of Bill Buckley striking a Jesus Christ pose with American flags draped in the background. This picture was placed above a picture of a nude woman covering her behind with a copy of Foreign Affairs. A very interesting choice, indeed! For the prices listed for the used copies, it is a bargain. Get the book!

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Rating: - The evolution of the American foreign policy Establishment
This is a collection of articles from Foreign Affairs, which is the journal of the internationalist (and since WWII the dominant) wing of the American foreign policy Establishment. The selection choice of articles was pretty good and interesting, though I am disappointed that they did not publish any articles from the Dulles brothers. Members of Yale secret societies, however, are well represented.

Some of the more revealing articles are:
Elihu Root's lead article in the first issue, a sort of mission statement for the purpose of the journal.
Hamilton Fish's reflection on fifty years of interventionist foreign policy.
Walter Lippmann's smear job on Senator Borah (he later suggested waging political warfare on isolationist congressment to the head of BSC during WWII, and they were quite successful).
The articles of members affiliated with the Royal Institute of International Affairs before WWII.
George Kennan's 'X' article suggesting containment among others.

For anyone interested in American political history and foreign policy in particular, this is an excellent book to possess. The pictures of some of the writers were also very interesting, I particularly enjoyed the picture of Bill Buckley striking a Jesus Christ pose with American flags draped in the background. This picture was placed above a picture of a nude woman covering her behind with a copy of Foreign Affairs. A very interesting choice, indeed! For the prices listed for the used copies, it is a bargain. Get the book!

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Rating: - An amazing trip
An amazing trip through the 20th century with the best minds of the age. Reading these classic essays you get new insights into the big trends, events, ideas that have brought us to where we are today. I was given this book as a gift and was genuinely surprised by how much I have enjoyed it. (The photographs are a nice bonus.) Anyone who likes history and politics will love this book.