Maximalist: America in the World from Truman to Obama
In his new book, Ambassador Stephen Sestanovich examines American foreign policy since the end of WWII, capturing not only its extraordinary achievements but the diplomatic missteps, intellectual confusion, and political discord from which they usually emerge. Sestanovich makes clear that U.S. diplomacy has always stirred controversy, both at home and abroad. He shows how successive administrations have struggled to find new solutions, alternating between bold “maximalist” strategies and retrenchment efforts to downsize America’s role. Ambassador Sestanovich is the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis professor of international diplomacy at Columbia University. From 1997 to 2001, he served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for the former Soviet Union. He has also served as vice president for Russian and Eurasian affairs at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, director of Soviet and East European studies at CSIS, and senior director for policy development at the NSC.
