Isolationism

A History of America's Efforts to Shield Itself from the World

By: Charles A. Kupchan

Narrated by: Adam Barr

In his Farewell Address of 1796, President George Washington admonished the young nation "to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world". Isolationism thereafter became one of the most influential political trends in American history. From the founding era until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States shunned strategic commitments abroad, making only brief detours during the Spanish-American War and World War I. Amid World War II and the Cold War, Americans abandoned isolationism; they tried to run the world rather than run away from it. But isolationism is making a comeback as Americans tire of foreign entanglement. In this definitive and magisterial analysis, Charles Kupchan explores the enduring connection between the isolationist impulse and the American experience.

Strategic detachment from the outside world was to protect the nation's unique experiment in liberty, which America would then share with others through the power of example. Since 1941, the United States has taken a much more interventionist approach to changing the world. But it has overreached, prompting Americans to rediscover the allure of non-entanglement and an America First foreign policy. The United States is hardly destined to return to isolationism, yet a strategic pullback is inevitable.

©2020 Charles A. Kupchan (P)2021 Tantor

Comprehensive and Concise

Overall, the author did a masterful job of providing a comprehensive overview of American foreign policy from its founding to the present, yet delivering it in an organized and concise fashion so that it kept the reader's attention throughout. On balance, the author treated the subject matter (isolationism) and the majority of historical figures and eras fairly, with the exception of the last 15 years. This is where the author could have done better to reserve his partiality toward the Obama Administration (in which he had a role, but did not disclose that role nor provide a disclaimer) and his bias against the Trump Administration. In the end, it was clear to this reader that the position he advocates (judicious restraint/retrenchment) is essentially Obama's brand of foreign policy. In that way, he tends to be an apologist for Obama. He also gave Woodrow Wilson a freer pass than he deserved. Nevertheless, I would still recommend this book to foreign policy of aficionados and national security professionals on both sides of the debate. I wholeheartedly agree with the author that a third way is needed for our present time. America has overreached and overstretched its international/global footprint, and it does not have the resources to sustain its present strategic commitments. Whereas the author suggests detaching from peripheral commitments, such as the Middle East, I would argue that America could go farther in detaching from Europe, as well, just as our founders had cautioned us over 250 years ago. But that is the subject of another book, another essay, or another paper.

A very solid review of the history of isolationism in the USA

Breaking down the periods with the benefits and negatives of how the US reacted to world events was very well done. Regardless of one’s opinion on how the US should move forward, this is a good reference book to understand one’s opinions against history and what has been done in the past.