Imperialism, progressivism, and America’s rise to power in the world, 1896–1920
(American imperialism): Varying interpretations of imperialism are presented by Ernest R. May, Imperial Democracy (1961, reissued 1973); Walter LaFeber, The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion, 1860–1898 (1963); and Richard E. Welch, Jr., Response to Imperialism: The United States and the Philippine-American War, 1899–1902 (1979). David F. Trask, The War with Spain (1981), is an account of the Spanish-American War. Julius W. Pratt, America’s Colonial Experiment (1950, reissued 1964), discusses the administration of the American overseas empire. A. Whitney Griswold, The Far Eastern Policy of the United States (1938, reissued 1966), remains the standard work; but, for the Open Door policy and relations with China, see also Tyler Dennett, John Hay: From Poetry to Politics (1933, reissued 1963). The U.S. penetration and domination of the Caribbean is most authoritatively recounted in Dana G. Munro, Intervention and Dollar Diplomacy in the Caribbean, 1900–1921 (1964, reprinted 1980).
(The Progressive era): An introduction to the United States during the Progressive era is John Whiteclay Chambers II, The Tyranny of Change (1980); and Arthur S. Link and Richard L. McCormick, Progressivism (1983).
(The rise to world power): An overview of the period is John M. Dobson, America’s Ascent: The United States Becomes a Great Power, 1880–1914 (1978). Surveys of American national politics from Roosevelt through Wilson are George E. Mowry, The Era of Theodore Roosevelt, 1900–1912 (1958, reprinted 1962); Arthur S. Link, Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910–1917 (1954, reprinted 1963); and Robert H. Ferrell, Woodrow Wilson and World War I, 1917–1921 (1985). On the neutrality issue, see Ernest R. May, The World War and American Isolation, 1914–1917 (1959); and Arthur S. Link, Wilson, 5 vol. (1947–65), especially the last three volumes. American mobilization is well covered by Daniel R. Beaver, Newton D. Baker and the American War Effort, 1917–1919 (1966); and Neil A. Wynn, From Progressivism to Prosperity: World War I and American Society (1986). Arno J. Mayer, Political Origins of the New Diplomacy, 1917–1918 (1959, reissued 1970), and a sequel, Politics and Diplomacy of Peacemaking: Containment and Counterrevolution at Versailles, 1918–1919 (1967), include a brilliant account of the development of Wilson’s peace program in its worldwide context. A study on Wilson and American diplomacy at the Paris peace conference is Arthur Walworth, Wilson and His Peacemakers (1986). For an account of the fight over the treaty in the United States, see William C. Widenor, Henry Cabot Lodge and the Search for an American Foreign Policy (1980). Wesley M. Bagby, The Road to Normalcy: The Presidential Campaign and Election of 1920 (1962), is an excellent study. Arthur S. Link
From 1920 to 1945
Geoffrey Perrett, America in the Twenties (1982), gives extensive overviews of political, social, and cultural aspects of this period. Ascholarly history is William E. Leuchtenburg, The Perils of Prosperity, 1914–32 (1958). Norman H. Clark, Deliver Us from Evil (1976), provides a challenging revisionist history of Prohibition. Frederick Lewis Allen, Only Yesterday (1931, reprinted 1986), is a contemporaneous account, covering all aspects of the years 1919–31; its companion volume is Since Yesterday (1940, reprinted 1986), on the 1930s. The standard account of politics in the 1930s is William E. Leuchtenburg, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932–1940 (1963). J.C. Furnas, Stormy Weather: Crosslights on the Nineteen Thirties (1977), is a complete survey. Irving Bernstein, Turbulent Years: A History of the American Worker, 1933–1941 (1969), is authoritative. Geoffrey Perrett, Days of Sadness, Years of Triumph (1973, reprinted 1985), comprehensively covers the war years 1939–45. John Morton Blum, V Was for Victory: Politics and American Culture During World War II (1976), offers a critique of the war period. Military history is provided by Kenneth S. Davis, Experience of War: The United States in World War II (1965; also published as The American Experience of War, 1939–1945, 1967). A comprehensive study is I.C.B. Dear and M.R.D. Foot (eds.), The Oxford Companion to World War II (also published as The Oxford Companion to the Second World War, 1995). Civil and military history is discussed in William L. O’Neill, A Democracy at War: America’s Fight at Home and Abroad in World War II (1993, reissued 1995).
From 1945 to the present
A general discussion of U.S. history since 1945 is Michael Schaller, Virginia Scharff, and Robert D. Schulzinger, Present Tense: The United States Since 1945, 2nd ed. (1996). A critical perspective is Melvyn Dubofsky and Athan Theoharis, Imperial Democracy: The United States Since 1945, 2nd ed. (1988). An overview of the early postwar years is John Patrick Diggins, The Proud Decades: America in War and in Peace, 1941–1960 (1988). James Gilbert, Another Chance: Postwar America, 1945–1985, 2nd ed. edited by R. Jackson Wilson (1986), is a useful survey. Coverage of the Cold War is provided by Ralph B. Levering, The Cold War, 1945–1987, 2nd ed. (1988); and John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment (1982), a brilliant analysis of U.S. Cold War policies. Burton I. Kaufman, The Korean War (1986), is a reliable overview. One of the most useful histories of the Civil Rights Movement is Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–1963 (1988). George C. Herring, America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950–1975, 2nd ed. (1986), is solid. William L. O’Neill, Coming Apart: An Informal History of America in the 1960’s (1971), is a study of the quality of American life under the impact of changing social values. Frederick F. Siegel, Troubled Journey: From Pearl Harbor to Ronald Reagan (1984), analyzes the relationship between American social and cultural life and government policy. Lyndon Johnson is the subject of Robert Dallek, Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 2 vol. (1991–98). An examination of American Cold War foreign policy is John Lewis Gaddis, The Long Peace: Inquiries into the History of the Cold War (1988, reprinted 1989). William L. O'Neill