Faces of Power

Seyom Brown has been a senior policy analyst at the RAND Corporation, the Brookings Institution, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Harvard University's Belfer Center, the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies, and the American Security Project and has served in the Department of State and the Department of Defense. He has taught at Brandeis University; Harvard University; Columbia University; the University of California, Los Angeles; the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; Southern Methodist University; and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

[A]n analysis with difference-an important difference. Seyom Brown discusses United States policy from the perspective of how decision makers in the United States viewed their adversaries and the alternatives as those decision makers saw them... Well worth the effort of a careful reading. American Political Science Review An outstanding work for understanding the big picture and much detail of American foreign policy over the past seventy years. Brilliant clarity in understanding complex situations makes this book particularly rewarding. -- Ronald E. Neumann, president, American Academy of Diplomacy and former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan This well researched and carefully interpreted narrative has become a classic account of American foreign policy. Brown masterfully reveals how presidents since Harry Truman have struggled to reconcile America's commitment to the foundational principles of democracy and the rule of law with a never-ending struggle to protect the national security in a perilous world. Faces of Power is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the deep historical roots of the profound challenges that both George W. Bush and Barack Obama have faced in navigating the unsettled terrain of international affairs at the dawn of the twenty-first century. -- Sidney M. Milkis, University of Virginia Seyom Brown's latest update of his classic text on U.S. foreign policy since 1945 is a welcome treat for experts and an effective tool for teachers. Brown is both lively and thorough-an extraordinary achievement considering the ground he covers. He describes with style and grace events that seem ambiguous or inconsistent and weaves them into an overarching set of themes: the continuities and breaks of U.S. policy. We should ensure that our friends and students get to know Brown's pathbreaking work, especially in its new and comprehensive form. -- Cameron Munter, Pomona College, former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan Recommended. All readership levels. Choice

• Preface Introduction: Constancy and Change Since WWII Part I. The Truman Administration 1. The Shattering of Expectations 2. Implementing Containment Part II. The Eisenhower Era 3. A New Look for Less Expensive Power 4. Waging Peace: The Eisenhower Face 5. Crises and Complications Part III. The Kennedy-Johnson Years 6. Enhancing the Arsenal of Power 7. The Third World as a Primary Arena of Competition 8. Kennedy's Cuban Crises 9. Berlin Again 10. The Vietnam Quagmire Part IV. Statecraft Under Nixon and Ford 11. Avoiding Humiliation in Indochina 12. The Insufficiency of Military Containment 13. The Middle East and the Reassertion of American Competence Abroad 14. The Anachronism of Conservative Realpolitik Part V. The Carter Period 15. The Many Faces of Jimmy Carter 16. The Fusion of Realism and Idealism 17. The Camp David Accords: Carter's Finest Hour 18. Iran and Afghanistan: Carter's Struggles to Salvage Containment Part VI. The Reagan Era-Realism or Romanticism? 19. High Purpose and Grand Strategy 20. The Tension Between Foreign and Domestic Imperatives 21. Middle East Complexities, 1981-1989: The Arab-Israeli Conflict, Terrorism, and Arms for Hostages 22. Contradictions in Latin America 23. The Reagan-Gorbachev Symbiosis Part VII. Prudential Statecraft with George Herbert Walker Bush 24. Presiding Over the End of the Cold War 25. The Resort to Military Power 26. The New World Order Part VIII. Clinton's Globalism 27. From Domestic Politician to Geopolitician 28. Opportunities and Frustrations in the Middle East 29. Leaving Somalia and Leaving Rwanda Alone 30. Getting Tough with Saddam and Osama 31. Into Haiti and the Balkans: The Responsibility to Protect Part IX. The Freedom Agenda of George W. Bush 32. Neoconservatives Seize the Day 33. 9/11, the War on Terror, and a New Strategic Doctrine 34. From Containment to Forcible Regime Change: Afghanistan and Iraq 35. National Security and Civil Liberties Part X. Obama's Universalism Versus a Still-Fragmented World 36. Engaging the World 37. Ending Two Wars 38. Counterterrorism and Human Rights 39. Ambivalence in Dealing with Upheavals in the Arab World Epilogue Notes Index