Walter LaFeber (1933–2021)

In 1964 4 US soldiers died, 85 wounded in open warfare with Panamanians over who owned the canal. 24 Panamanian killed, 200 wounded over four days. A timely forgotten history of those events and causes up to Carter. In 1974 Henry Kissinger signed the Canal back to Panama, prior to the drug wars. Solid bibliographic essay with comments in the back for anyone needing to come up to speed on forgotten Panamanian history.

This collection of JQA's letters, speeches, and papers is pretty short and reads really quickly. There is a brief bio (~20 pages) by the editor up front that unfortunately didn't provide any new info or real insights and stuck pretty much to the facts without getting into much analysis. Each chapter is preceded with a brief (1 page synopsis/context). The selection of letters is the real contribution of the editor, as there is little analysis to be found in either the short biography at the show more beginning or in the chapter synoses. Nevertheless, Lafeber sifts through volumes of diaries, memoirs, and other primary sources to focus on JQA's conception of, arguments for, and later backpededling for limitations on the expansion of America (to create a continental empire) and its interests, largely through his diplomatic efforts. JQA essentially believed, for a time, that North America and the United States should be synonymous. This includes his thoughts on territorial expanison including Florida and Oregon (for) and later Texas (against). Also included are his arguments for the expansion of America's interests, e.g. fishing rights off of Newfoundland, and claims to navigation along Mississippi River. It's a lot of fun to go through primary sources for a change, and JQA writes well, with a lot of characteristic 19th century turns of phrase. show less

I found this one annoying, because I kept saying "but, but, I definitely know that's wrong!!" I think this book would have gone over better if I hadn't majored in International Studies in the late 1990s; revisionist nonsense is easier to sell when all the archives are sealed shut.

What's probably most annoying is that it's not even the foremost book in its genre (and by that I mean revisionist histories of the Cold War.) For that, look to William Appleman Williams.

Suffice to say that it was show more seeing this on my shelf and remembering I hadn't yet come onto LibraryThing to express my annoyance is why I logged in this evening. show less

Even though this is basically a textbook of sorts, I really liked it. It was easy to read, easy to reference specific topics. It gives a brief yet fairly accurate overview of the Cold War between Russia and the United States.