Books like Nuclear weapons and foreign policy by Henry Kissinger

Soft power refers to the ability to attract and persuade, while hard power relies on military or economic might.

From preface: It is the purpose of this study to trace the rise and development in the United States of the movement for overseas expansion from hesitant beginnings under the Harrison Administration at the opening of the last decade of the nineteenth century to its surprising triumph in the ratification of the treaty with Spain in February, 1899.

"Noam Chomsky's Year 501 is a powerful and comprehensive discussion of the incredible injustices hidden in our history and there is little in that history that escapes Chomsky's attention. He ruthlessly interrogates the "official record" calling up the muted voices of the victims of aggression to give testimony. From the brutality of Christopher Columbus upon his arrival in the Americas to the persecution of Indonesians in the 1960s, he appeals to the reader to review the evidence amassed over the last 500 years."--pub. desc.

Traditionally, Americans have viewed war as an alternative to diplomacy, and military strategy as the science of victory. Today, however, in our world of nuclear weapons, military power is not so much exercised as threatened. It is, Mr. Schelling says, bargaining power, and the exploitation of this power, for good or evil, to preserve peace or to threaten war, is diplomacy - the diplomacy of violence. The author concentrates in this book on the way in which military capabilites - real or imagined - are used, skillfully or clumsily, as bargaining power. He sees the steps taken by the US during the Berlin and Cuban crises as not merely preparations for engagement, but as signals to an enemy, with reports from the adversary's own military intelligence as our most important diplomatic communications.

An analytical exploration of the United States’ foreign policy decisions and their consequences, examining how diplomatic actions have shaped international relations.

This volume introduces students to primary documents on American empire from a pivotal era of U.S. expansion beyond the North American continent in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Along with covering a wide range of places-including Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines-the documents touch on a wide range of themes, among them race, citizenship, civilization, democracy, cross-cultural encounter, imperialism, anti-imperialism, and self-determination. Kristin Hoganson's introduction provides the context essential to understanding this period and the ways in which the echoes of 1898 still reverberate today, including in the reach of U.S. power and the composition of the American people. Through a collection of sources representing the voices of those living under imperial rule as well as those imposing and opposing it, students can consider the American imperial endeavors. Contains primary source documents.