The Great League of Peace and Power
250 Years of American Foreign Policy
Will be published approx. on 10. November 2026
Book
Hardback
368 pages
978-0-7006-4346-2 (ISBN)
Description
An authoritative history of American foreign policy-published for the nation's 250th anniversary-from a veteran scholar and teacher.
The Great League of Peace and Power provides a lucid history of American foreign policy and international affairs from the Declaration of Independence in 1776 to its 250th anniversary in 2026. In this concise overview, David C. Hendrickson explores the principal ideas, debates, and strategic challenges that continue to shape today's wars, alliances, and global commitments.
Hendrickson rejects the idea that America's traditional policy of independence was "isolationist," as it had internationalist elements from the beginning. The Founders wanted a new order in North America that would be the antitype of the European system of venomous rivalry among states. Twentieth-century leaders built a system of collective defense that, after the end of the Cold War, morphed into a universal empire, often with disastrous results.
At the heart of this story are fierce domestic debates over power and principle. Hendrickson brings to life the enduring ideas that have guided and divided Americans for generations: neutrality and intervention, diplomacy and war, restraint and dominance. From the early republic to the age of Trump, he shows how these arguments never disappeared but instead resurfaced whenever the nation faced crisis abroad.
Clear, authoritative, and deeply relevant, The Great League of Peace and Power speaks directly to today's readers who are questioning America's role on the global stage. Hendrickson ultimately argues that older American diplomatic traditions-grounded in peace, reciprocity, and limits on power-offer the best way forward in an era of global overstretch and rising needs at home.
As the United States reflects on its 250th anniversary, this timely book offers a bracing reassessment of America's past and a compelling lens for understanding its uncertain future.
The Great League of Peace and Power provides a lucid history of American foreign policy and international affairs from the Declaration of Independence in 1776 to its 250th anniversary in 2026. In this concise overview, David C. Hendrickson explores the principal ideas, debates, and strategic challenges that continue to shape today's wars, alliances, and global commitments.
Hendrickson rejects the idea that America's traditional policy of independence was "isolationist," as it had internationalist elements from the beginning. The Founders wanted a new order in North America that would be the antitype of the European system of venomous rivalry among states. Twentieth-century leaders built a system of collective defense that, after the end of the Cold War, morphed into a universal empire, often with disastrous results.
At the heart of this story are fierce domestic debates over power and principle. Hendrickson brings to life the enduring ideas that have guided and divided Americans for generations: neutrality and intervention, diplomacy and war, restraint and dominance. From the early republic to the age of Trump, he shows how these arguments never disappeared but instead resurfaced whenever the nation faced crisis abroad.
Clear, authoritative, and deeply relevant, The Great League of Peace and Power speaks directly to today's readers who are questioning America's role on the global stage. Hendrickson ultimately argues that older American diplomatic traditions-grounded in peace, reciprocity, and limits on power-offer the best way forward in an era of global overstretch and rising needs at home.
As the United States reflects on its 250th anniversary, this timely book offers a bracing reassessment of America's past and a compelling lens for understanding its uncertain future.
Reviews / Votes
"David Hendrickson, a distinguished historian of American foreign policy, sums up the wisdom gleaned during his long career, in what can only be termed a tour de force. Not only is The Great League of Peace and Power a model of erudition and shrewd judgment, it is beautifully written and punctures many academic and popular misconceptions about US relations with the world since 1776."-Walter McDougall, author of The Tragedy of U.S. Foreign Policy: How America's Civil Religion Betrayed the National Interest"No one presently writing-I mean no one-can match David Hendrickson's grasp of the ambitions and contradictions that have shaped America's role in the world, both past and present."-Andrew Bacevich, Co-Founder, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and author of Diplomat in Khaki: Major General Frank Ross McCoy and American Foreign Policy, 1898-1949
"With The Great League of Peace and Power, David Hendrickson makes another provocative and original contribution to the understanding of American history."-Michael Mandelbaum, author of The American Way of Foreign Policy: Ideology, Economics, Democracy
"Clear and insightful, The Great League of Peace and Power illuminates the emergence of an American empire on a continental and then global scale. Created in 1776 to keep the internal peace among thirteen fractious states, the American union became formidable to outsiders. Hendrickson offers a sobering coda where, under current mismanagement, this overextended and overexposed empire unravels with dire consequences for us and others."-Alan Taylor, author of American Civil Wars: A Continental History, 1850-1873
"Hendrickson has long been one of the most distinguished historians of international politics and American foreign policy-distinguished not only for his acute and often original analysis, but by his lucid, stylish and witty prose. All of this comes together in this brilliant and compelling history of American foreign policy from the revolution until today."-Jerome Slater, Political Science Professor Emeritus, SUNY/Buffalo
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Kansas
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-7006-4346-2 (9780700643462)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
David C. Hendrickson is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at Colorado College where he taught until 2020. He is the author of numerous acclaimed works on American diplomacy and political thought, including Peace Pact: The Lost World of the American Founding and Union, Nation, or Empire: The American Debate over International Relations, 1789-1941, both from University Press of Kansas.