Casts this historic of American diplomacy between 1898 and 1954 as a back-and-forth battle between isolationists and internationalists (both have long roots in American foreign policy). The timing is interiesting as this book was written in the first decade of the Cold War. Dulles clearly favors the internationalist approach. He points out that even isolationists engaged in global diplomacy but that their reliance on moral condemnation failed to achieve results without a credible threat of force. Bear in mind that this is an old book and outdated. Readers interested in American diplomatic history would be better served finding a more recent work. This book is probably most useful at this point for historians or students who want a snapshot of American attitudes about foreign policy in the middle of the twentieth century. ( )