From the Old Diplomacy to the New: 1865 - 1900

Beisner puts forth a lively account of the twists in US diplomacy from the end of the Civil War to 1900. This era of Reconstruction and the Gilded Age saw the US rise to a world power. He describes the projection of US imperialism into the Pacific and the Americas. The observant reader might glimpse the unabashed enthusiasm for empire, as the US strove to match the European powers. Amusing and long forgotten anecdotes are recountered. As in the appointment of a Secretary of the Navy who had never been out in more than a rowboat. But Beisner also often mentions incidents of neglect by Congress, or of lost opportunities. Serving to show that US foreign policy was never a single, overarching doctrine. But the sometimes inconsistent result of many forces, political, economic and social.