Maximalist: America in the World from Truman to Obama

Stephen Sestanovich (Columbia University) provides an inside, expert survey of American foreign policy and use of power since World War II. I highly recommend coupling this survey with Robert L. Beisner‘s magisterial biography of Dean Acheson during the Cold War. Mr. Sestanovich is highly expert in his field and provides a reliable road map of continuity and disruption in our foreign policy for over 70 years. Mr. Sestanovich provides a few very shocking details. For example, who would have imagined, when America tried to lean on Leonid Brezhnev to increase Jewish emigration from Russia to Israel, that Henry Kissinger would make the shocking utterance to President Nixon, that it would be a strictly Russian internal matter, if Brezhnev were to send Jews to gas chambers (Kissinger himself having been a refugee from Hitler)?! That utterance stopped my breath. Even for Kissinger that utterance seemed inconceivable, but there it was! Mr. Sestanovich is highly expert, having served from 1997 - 2001 as Ambassador-at-Large to the former Soviet Union for the State Department. I give this volume a very high recommendation, but an even higher recommendation goes to Beisner‘s work on Dean Acheson, which comprehensively narrates the great statesman‘s dynamic with Robert Schuman, Anthony Eden, Ernest Bevin, George Marshall, Dean Rusk, George Kennan and a bevy of statesmen in founding the Franco-German coal and steel union, NATO, the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine. Sestanovich‘s Maximalism and Beisner‘s Dean Acheson go optimally together.

The book covers foreign policy from Truman to Obama and pretty shows how each new administration tries to correct for the excesses of the previous administration, very often they over correct in world affairs by either going too maximalist or by too much retrenching.. Clinton started as a retrenchment president, but ended up as an activist. HW Bush started out as a maximalist and ended up as a retrencher and was defeated. Eisenhower retrenched from Truman's maximalist, then JFK who followed Eisenhower was a maximalist.What the author makes apparent is that most all administration made serious errors in judgment and I sometimes wondered how the country has survived the continuous streams of administrations who made so many, sometimes enormous, errors in judgment in foreign affairs. Johnson going maximalist in Viet Nam and George W Bush trying to take over Iraq on the cheap with no real strategy for occupation. All of the administrations were made up of supposedly brilliant and learned men, yet all made often catastrophic mistakes.The author is pretty even handed in his criticism of both political parties.

I titled this review "Living History" because I have lived during this entire period and remember much of what happened. Not to say I didn't learn a lot from this book; it should be required reading in middle school. The author's writing is very clear and any middle school student should be able to read this without too much aid from the dictionary...a love of recent history would help, though. The book is divided between "maximalist" and, if I remember correctly, "retrenchment" or "minimalist" presidents...a very few were both at one time or another. I had not considered presidents in that light before, but the author makes his case convincingly. One doesn't have to be middle school to learn from and enjoy this book.

Fantastic account of the Foreign Policies of the presidents since the Cold War. It really is good way to critically look at the decisions that all of the presidents have made. The history and political theory that are in this book mesh together nicely that can make you think about some of foreign policy strategies in the past 70 years. Also, it is a great read that all history teachers and professors should force their students to read in contrast to the sunshine and rainbows account that most US History textbooks seem to be written in.

Great book. I read it for one of my college classes and it changed my understanding of US foreign policy. THis book presents a well written, well analysed description of US foreign policy decisions and more interestingly, an insight into the presidents making those decisions. Sestanovich does a great job of mixing history with political theory and this book is a great read for both people who are and aren't familiar with US foreign policy.

This is a very well written historical treatise on American foreign policy from Truman to early Obama. It is simply written by a neutral observer who has taken part in many important decisions. It may seem that Sestanovich is neutral but there are subtle hints regarding his personal opinions..This is a very informative book and an easy read.

A brillant take on America's foreign policy, and what it could mean for future administrations. While I did enjoy reading, I thought the author could have discussed more about how maximalism and retrenchment impacted international/multilateral trade agreements and organizations over time.

I liked it. Easy to read history from post WWII to almost present. Gives a lot of well researched insight into each Admin, from Truman to Obama. If one enjoys this kind of reading, worth buying.

I bought this book on the back of catching the title on tv on a book review show I believe. What a waste of time. I don't think I enjoyed reading a single page in this book. Bland, boring and littered with quotes from actual people involved which just made it a mish mash of a description of events of each US administrations since World War II.