Major Problems in American Foreign Relations, Volume 1: To 1920

Volume I of U.S. Foreign Policy is a well crafted book of primary documents to help an average American to understand the basis of U.S. foreign policy from the beginnings of the republic to the end of World War I. This book is not only recommended to the average reader, but to the foreign policy officers in the State Department. History seems to have repeated itself on many occasions, such as the incompetence of Presidents Madison in regards to Britain and Wilson in regards to foreign policy as a whole as well as the similarities between James K. Polk's Mexican American War and George W. Bush's Iraq War. The documents contained in this book are very beneficial to understanding that politics has a heavy hand in U.S. foreign policy, and will always have a hand in it. It is even fair to say that President Obama's re-evaluation about the War in Afghanistan had some elements of politics in it, therefore this book is highly recommended, because lessons from the past have not been learned.