Since their first publication, the four volumes of the Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations have served as the definitive source for the topic, from the colonial period to the Cold War. The first volume proposes that the British North American colonists' preexisting desire for expansion, security, and prosperity is both the essence of American foreign relations and the root cause for the creation of the United States. The second volume describes the dynamics of United States foreign policy from 1865 to 1913, the era when the United States became one of the four great world powers and the world's greatest economic power. The third volume describes how the United States became a global power - economically, culturally, and militarily - during the period from 1913 to 1945, from the inception of Woodrow Wilson's presidency to the end of the Second World War. The revised and expanded fourth volume explores the conditions in the international system at the end of World War II, the American determination to provide leadership, and the security dilemma each superpower posed for the other, while incorporating recent scholarship and revelations, and carrying the narrative into the Barack Obama's administration.
Cohen, Warren I.: - Warren I. Cohen is University Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Michigan State University, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Professor Cohen has published nineteen books, the best known of which is America's Response to China, 5th edition (2010).
Iriye, Akira: - Akira Iriye is Charles Warren Professor of American History Emeritus at Harvard University. He is the author of several books, including Global Community: The Role of International Organizations in the Making of the Contemporary World (2002), Cultural Imperialism and World Order (1998) and China and Japan in the Global Setting (1993).
LaFeber, Walter: - Walter LaFeber is Andrew Tisch and James Tisch Distinguished University Professor Emeritus in the Department of History at Cornell University. He is the author of several books, including America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-2006 (10th edition, 2007), The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion, 1865-1898 (25th anniversary edition, 1998) and The Clash: U.S.-Japan Relations Throughout History (1997).
Weeks, William Earl: - William Earl Weeks is Lecturer in History at San Diego State University. He is the author of John Quincy Adams and American Global Empire (1992) and Building the Continental Empire, 1815-1861, and co-editor of American Foreign Relations since 1600: A Guide to the Literature (2003).
