Dangerous Nation: America in the World 1600-1900

Synopsis

The common perception of the United States is as an isolationist nation with little regard for the rest of the World. From Washington's farewell address to the Monroe Doctrine, America's tradition of isolation and separation has been confirmed again and again. Or so it is widely assumed. In "Dangerous Nation", Robert Kagan demonstrates that whilst we tend to believe that Americans do not care what happens in most of the rest of the world, in fact, they care rather too much. "Dangerous Nation" argues that Americans would be better off if they understood their nation's history better. The pervasive myth of America as isolationist and passive until provoked rests on a fundamental misunderstanding of America's foreign policies and this book sets the historical record straight and in the process reveals an America that is as ambitious as it is expansionist.