The Great League of Peace and Power

An authoritative history of American foreign policy—published for the nation’s 250th anniversary—from a veteran scholar and teacher.

The Great League of Peace and Power provides a lucid history of American foreign policy and international affairs from the Declaration of Independence in 1776 to its 250th anniversary in 2026. In this concise overview, David C. Hendrickson explores the principal ideas, debates, and strategic challenges that continue to shape today’s wars, alliances, and global commitments.

Hendrickson rejects the idea that America’s traditional policy of independence was “isolationist,” as it had internationalist elements from the beginning. The Founders wanted a new order in North America that would be the antitype of the European system of venomous rivalry among states. Twentieth-century leaders built a system of collective defense that, after the end of the Cold War, morphed into a universal empire, often with disastrous results.

At the heart of this story are fierce domestic debates over power and principle. Hendrickson brings to life the enduring ideas that have guided and divided Americans for generations: neutrality and intervention, diplomacy and war, restraint and dominance. From the early republic to the age of Trump, he shows how these arguments never disappeared but instead resurfaced whenever the nation faced crisis abroad.

Clear, authoritative, and deeply relevant, The Great League of Peace and Power speaks directly to today’s readers who are questioning America’s role on the global stage. Hendrickson ultimately argues that older American diplomatic traditions—grounded in peace, reciprocity, and limits on power—offer the best way forward in an era of global overstretch and rising needs at home.

As the United States reflects on its 250th anniversary, this timely book offers a bracing reassessment of America’s past and a compelling lens for understanding its uncertain future.