From Isolation to War 1931 - 1941

This well-written and informative text describes the major events and historiographical controversies in American diplomacy in the years between the two world wars. Covered in detail are such matters as the background of US isolationism, Pacific diplomacy in the 1920s, the Manchurian Crisis, the Ethiopian War, the Spanish Civil War, the neutrality acts, and the debate over intervention in 1939-1941. Topics include the recognition of the Soviet Union, rejection of the World Court, the blocking of Jewish immigration, Munich, the Hitler-Stalin pact, and the polemics of isolationist ideology. There is also an entire chapter that includes a discussion of US-Japanese relations in the 1930s and a close consideration of the economic, political, and historical pressures that forced the island empire's decision to act. The book concludes with a delineation of revisionist arguments, including the 'Devil theory' of FDR's culpability, and provides the insight of modern historians in a consideration of Roosevelt's leadership and the true focus of American diplomacy in the 1930s.

Justus D. Doenecke is professor of history at New College of Florida, where he has been a member of the history faculty since 1969 The late John E. Wilz was professor of history at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he had been a member of the history faculty from 1958 until his death in 1994