From Munich to Pearl Harbor: Roosevelt's America and the Origins of the Second World War (American Ways)

By David Reynolds

Book Overview

Four years before Pearl Harbor, the United States had turned in on itself, mired in the Great Depression and fearing entanglement in another European war. Four years after Pearl Harbor, it accounted for half the world's economic output and boasted a navy and air force second to none. The period from 1938 to 1941, David Reynolds argues in his brilliant new book, was a turning point in modern American history. Drawing upon his own research and the latest scholarship, Mr. Reynolds shows how Franklin Roosevelt led Americans into a new global perspective on foreign policy, one based on geopolitics and ideology. FDR insisted that in an age of airpower, U.S. security required allies far beyond the Western Hemisphere, and that in an era of dictatorships, American values could and should transform the world. Months before Pearl Harbor, he had popularized the term "second world war." Mr. Reynolds, in his succinct overview of American foreign policy from Munich to Pearl Harbor, shows how the president used his new perspective in responding to international shocks-the fall of France, Hitler's invasion of Russia, Japan's drive into Southeast Asia. But one of the signal accomplishments of From Munich to Pearl Harbor is also to explain how the main features of America's cold war posture (following World War II) were established in the years before the war-a new globalism, a bipolar worldview, the foundations of the military-industrial complex, and the origins of the "imperial presidency." New in the American Ways Series.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566633893
• ISBN13: 9781566633895
• Release Date: July 2001
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.1" x 5.7"

Customer Reviews

Good Resource Material

I had to read this book as part of a foreign relations class I'm taking. It did a great job of presenting the historical context without getting too dull or bogged down with details. In addition, I really liked how well it portrayed FDR as a person, rather than just as a political figure. You get more insight into his personality, personal beliefs, and ideals with this book than with most other historical accounts I've come accross. If you're more interested in the social and political aspects of war than the details of battles and treaties, you'll probably really like this book.

An insightful look at how FDR edged us into World War II.

For those people who thought Pearl Harbor brought us into the Second World War, Reynolds argues that FDR's actions were bringing us closer to an alliance with Churchill's Great Britain and Stalin's USSR. Pearl Harbor was the last action which convinced the American public that war was necessary. Before that, Reynolds argues that the isolationist mood in the U.S. was high and oppossed to more involvement in Europe. Roosevelt helped as much as possible through the destroyer deal and lend lease to help Great Britain and the USSR. If it hadn't been for Pearl Harbor, NAZI Germany may have overwhelmed the USSR and Great Britain. In this thesis, he also argues that signal intelligence was missed which resulted in Pearl Harbor, but there was no conspiracy.Reynolds book is somewhat dry, but the details show how FDR worked to get us into the good war. He led the USA into public opinion about the reasons why the country should support the Soviet Union and Great Britain.