How could such an implausible metamorphosis have occurred? In a world where power and the willingness to wield it had always determined the fate of nations, what factors enabled our young nation to so successfully navigate the corridors of diplomacy and foreign policy from the very outset, ensuring not only America's survival but also its eventual status as a superpower?

America and the World: A Diplomatic History addresses these and other penetrating questions. In 24 insightful lectures, award-winning Professor Mark A. Stoler of the University of Vermont—a scholar acknowledged for his expertise in U.S. diplomatic and military history—offers you a fresh view of America's shift from the periphery of international politics to its very center.
As he guides you along the timeline of America's ascendancy, Professor Stoler shows you that causal machinery at work as he explores the key components of American diplomatic history:
* The origins of American beliefs about our "mission" and proper place in the world
* The expansion of the original United States across the North American continent through war and treaty
* The acquisition of a formal overseas empire in the late 19th century and the subsequent addition of an informal empire
* The achievement of victory in two world wars and participation in limited but bloody conflicts in Korea and Vietnam
* The course of—and victory in—the 45-year cold war with the Soviet Union
* The origins and evolution of famous or significant pronouncements and policies, including Washington's Farewell Address, the idea of "Manifest Destiny," the Monroe Doctrine, the Open Door policy, isolationism, the Marshall Plan, and the "containment" of Communism