Given my discussion of conservatism and foreign policy, I thought you might like to check out a few books that are in my library that touch on this subject. This of course no where near an inclusive list, just some books I skimmed through and re-read while thinking on this subject.
Promised Land, Crusader State : The American Encounter with the World Since 1776 .:
Taking up the torch of George Kennan, Pulitzer Prize winner Walter McDougall proposes nothing less than to cleanse the vocabulary of our post-Cold War debate on America’s place in world affairs. Looking back over two centuries, he draws a striking contrast between America as a Promised Land, a vision inspired by the “Old Testament” of our diplomatic wisdom through the nineteenth century, and the contrary vision of America as a Crusader State, which inspired the “New Testament” of our foreign policy beginning at the time of the Spanish-American War and reaching its fulfillment in Vietnam. To this day, these two visions and these two testaments battle for control of the way America sees its role in the world.
The Irony of Virtue: Ethics and American Power:
Ernest Lefever presents a lively march through the second half of our century. As an acute participant-observer who cares deeply about peace, freedom, and human dignity, Lefever selected the 40 most influential essays out of some 500 published pieces. These essays reveal Lefever’s transformation from a liberal pacifist to a humane realist.
Idealism Without Illusions/U.S. Foreign Policy in the 1990’s:
“George Weigel brings scholarship, spiritual values, and wit to the work of thinking about American foreign policy in the post-Cold War world America has helped to make. He points to difficult problems and shows the way toward intelligent solutions. Above all, he reminds us that ideas and values–including religious values–count and that American leadership can work to change the world for the better.”
–Michael Barone
Around the Cragged Hill: A Personal and Poltical Philosophy:
Winner of the National Book Award and two Pulitzer Prizes, diplomat and scholar Kennan now steps forth with a compelling, provocative testament for our times–a brilliant look at the problems facing America today. A New York Times bestseller in hardcover.
