By more than providence : grand strategy and American power in the Asia Pacific since 1783 / Michael J. Green.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In a history that spans the eighteenth century to the present, Michael J. Green follows the development of U.S. strategic thinking toward East Asia. Green finds one overarching concern: that a rival power might use the Pacific to isolate and threaten the U.S. and prevent the ocean from becoming a conduit for the westward flow of trade and values.

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CHOICE Review

In this panoramic sketch of the evolution of the US strategic engagement with Asia from the birth of the Republic to today, Green (Georgetown) suggests that Asia presented a consistent set of geostrategic challenges that shaped the US way of strategizing. If there is one central theme in American strategic culture as it applies to the Asia Pacific, it is that the US will not tolerate any other power's establishing exclusive hegemonic control over Asia or the Pacific. From John Quincy Adams's assertion of American primacy in the Pacific Northwest to William McKinley's decision to annex Hawaii, from using the China card to check Soviet expansion to using the Japan and India cards to counter China's rise, the organizing strategic concepts all reflected defensive realism in the US grand strategy for Asia. The US had to reconcile five inherent tensions in its strategic approach toward Asia: Europe versus Asia, China versus Japan, the definition of the forward defense line, self-determination versus universal values, and protectionism versus free trade. With rich historical records and insightful analysis, this is a fascinating, most useful reference for students and scholars of US-Asia relations and American foreign policy. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Zhiqun Zhu, Bucknell University