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Dissenting Voices in America's Rise to Power
This book offers a major rereading of US foreign policy from Thomas Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana expanse to the Korean War. This period of one hundred and fifty years saw the expansion of the United States from fragile republic to transcontinental giant. David Mayers explores the dissenting voices which accompanied this dramatic ascent, focusing on dissenters within the political and military establishment and on the recurrent patterns of dissent that have transcended particular policies and crises. The most stubborn of these sprang from anxiety over the material and political costs of empire while other strands of dissent have been rooted in ideas of exigent justice, realpolitik, and moral duties existing beyond borders. Such dissent is evident again in the contemporary world when the US occupies the position of preeminent global power. Professor Mayers's study reminds us that America's path to power was not as straightforward as it might now seem.
460 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 26, 2019
A comprehensive survey of American dissent in foreign affairs from our early republic to the time the book was written, this engaging history evokes questions while reminding readers of how intense public views on foreign affaires are and, at the same time, how dissent happens inside government. A section on MacArthur and the Korean War is especially well written.
However, the work is rich on many levels of American history. For example, opposition to our invasion of Mexico and President Pierce's imperialism in the face of widespread opposition gets fine coverage. The purchase of Alaska is another interesting topic (see below).
The account of President Grant's efforts to bring peace to post Civil War American including on the Western Plains is for me at least new and informative. President Grant surprised favorably people like Wendell Phillips and negatively people like William Sherman. Earlier in his account how we assumed ownership of Alaska and opposition to that purchase is another topic Professor Mayers refreshes. We took more interest in Czar Alexander's progressive reforms than I had realized.
Our racist imperial abuse in the Philippines receives full exposure and suggests further reading and exploration of our ongoing intrusions there. Our employment of nuclear weapons in Asia receives succinct but substantive consideration.
Recounting in brief the utter failure of the United States to aid European Jews prior to and during the Second World War is damming and a clear reason why opposition to Zionist oppression of Palestinians
after the war and into our immediate present is deviled by and with mistakes and ambiguity. Latent anti-Semitism before and during the Second World War by the United States helps explain our tolerance of anti-Semitism against Palestinian Arab Christians and Muslims and other non-Jewish residents of Palestine and Israel.
The book turns out to be a fine account of American history from the point-of-view of dissent. It gives density to other accounts of our history.
This work deserves a much better reviewer than I am but the work also appeals to a lay reader like me. It reveals much I had not known about our history and much I think many readers also don't know. This is in no way a pedantic history but a lively stylishly written history well worth adding to your inventory of American history books read. Were I younger and in better health, I might well take a look at other works by this outstanding historian. The inventory of his work is impressive.
I like browse reading it from time to time (noted February 25, 2019.
However, the work is rich on many levels of American history. For example, opposition to our invasion of Mexico and President Pierce's imperialism in the face of widespread opposition gets fine coverage. The purchase of Alaska is another interesting topic (see below).
The account of President Grant's efforts to bring peace to post Civil War American including on the Western Plains is for me at least new and informative. President Grant surprised favorably people like Wendell Phillips and negatively people like William Sherman. Earlier in his account how we assumed ownership of Alaska and opposition to that purchase is another topic Professor Mayers refreshes. We took more interest in Czar Alexander's progressive reforms than I had realized.
Our racist imperial abuse in the Philippines receives full exposure and suggests further reading and exploration of our ongoing intrusions there. Our employment of nuclear weapons in Asia receives succinct but substantive consideration.
Recounting in brief the utter failure of the United States to aid European Jews prior to and during the Second World War is damming and a clear reason why opposition to Zionist oppression of Palestinians
after the war and into our immediate present is deviled by and with mistakes and ambiguity. Latent anti-Semitism before and during the Second World War by the United States helps explain our tolerance of anti-Semitism against Palestinian Arab Christians and Muslims and other non-Jewish residents of Palestine and Israel.
The book turns out to be a fine account of American history from the point-of-view of dissent. It gives density to other accounts of our history.
This work deserves a much better reviewer than I am but the work also appeals to a lay reader like me. It reveals much I had not known about our history and much I think many readers also don't know. This is in no way a pedantic history but a lively stylishly written history well worth adding to your inventory of American history books read. Were I younger and in better health, I might well take a look at other works by this outstanding historian. The inventory of his work is impressive.
I like browse reading it from time to time (noted February 25, 2019.
December 24, 2022
Read it for my American foreign relations class. I liked it, but not as much as the American century book. It was cool to hear the dissenting voices of major American international events, etc.
July 27, 2024
I read this because the author was going to be teaching one of my classes and it was not a particularly enjoyable read. I loved the topic, I thought it was organized in an effective way, but it read too much like a textbook for me and I had a very hard time enjoying the book
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews