Originally published in 1991, Explaining the History of American Foreign Relations has become an indispensable volume not only for teachers and students in international history and political science, but also for general readers seeking an introduction to American diplomatic history. This collection of essays highlights a variety of newer, innovative, and stimulating conceptual approaches and analytical methods used to study the history of American foreign relations, including bureaucratic, dependency, and world systems theories, corporatist and national security models, psychology, culture, and ideology. Along with substantially revised essays from the first edition, this volume presents entirely new material on postcolonial theory, borderlands history, modernization theory, gender, race, memory, cultural transfer, and critical theory. The book seeks to define the study of American international history, stimulate research in fresh directions, and encourage cross-disciplinary thinking, especially between diplomatic history and other fields of American history, in an increasingly transnational, globalizing world.

Designed to supplement the Guide to the Diplomatic History of the U.S. (1935), this bibliography has items arranged chronologically, geographically and topically, while indexes refer to authors, subjects and individuals. In addition to maps, the book contains a list of major policy makers since 1781 and brief biographical sketches of U.S. secretaries of state. ISBN 0-87436-323-3 : $87.50.