Belligerents, Brinkmanship, and the Big Stick: A Historical Encyclopedia of American Diplomatic Concepts

The USA may be a new country but 220 years is a lot of diplomatic history. In his new book, Professor Dobson has tried to swallow it in one bite. He focuses on the full span of America's foreign relations – from Virginia aristocrats like Jefferson and Washington to the Imperial Presidency of Bush and Clinton. In actual fact, Dobson's alliterative title is rather a misnomer since the book contains a mixture of subject articles and biographies. Biographies are not “concepts” nor are articles on Pearl Harbor or the Boxer rebellion. However, some of his entries are more conceptual –...