America Unbound - by Ivo H Daalder & James M Lindsay

About the Book

This book explores how the Bush revolution in foreign policy carries with it high risks and possibly high costs. The authors argue that an America unbound by the need to convince others of the justice of its cause is an America that conveys an arrogance born of power rather than principle.

Book Synopsis

A splendidly illuminating book.
-The New York Times

Like it or not, George W. Bush has launched a revolution in American foreign policy. He has redefined how America engages the world, shedding the constraints that friends, allies, and international institutions once imposed on its freedom of action. In America Unbound, Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay caution that the Bush revolution comes with serious risks-and, at some point, we may find that America's friends and allies will refuse to follow his lead, leaving the U.S. unable to achieve its goals. This edition has been extensively revised and updated to include major policy changes and developments since the book's original publication.

From the Back Cover

Winner of the 2003 Lionel Gelber Prize

A Foreign Affairs Bestseller

"The commentary is judicious, the language sober, and given that both Daalder and Lindsay served in the Clinton White House--and that Daalder was recently an advisor to Howard Dean--the measured tone invests the book with that much more credibility."
--The Washington Post

"America Unbound deserves the closest attention. The research is admirable, the arguments are well marshaled, and the absence of stridency adds considerable authority to the portrayal of Bush as a president whose worldview simply made no allowance for others' doubting the purity of American motives."
--Serge Schmemann, The New York Times Book Review

"A provocative and original thesis--and also a caution to those who have underestimated George W. Bush's decisive and historic impact on the course of American foreign policy."
--Robert Kagan, author, Of Paradise and Power

"It is doubtful that another book will come along soon that covers all the important points of the administration's foreign policy with more clarity and evenhandedness."
--Joshua Micah Marshall, Foreign Affairs

"For those seeking to understand the Bush foreign policy and not merely to denounce it, this informative book will be highly useful."
--Ronald Steel, The Nation

"A useful analysis. . . . Their emphasis is less on the shift to preventive war than on the administration's doctrinaire analysis and its moralistic arrogance."
--Arthur Schlesinger Jr., The New York Review of Books

"America Unbound is refreshingly original and it makes the case for President Bush as the master of his own unilateralist revolution. Future examinations of Bush foreign policy will be measured against this authoritative book."
--Daniel Schorr, National Public Radio

A Brookings Institution Book

About the Author

IVO H. DAALDER is a Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution.

JAMES M. LINDSAY is Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair at the Council on Foreign Relations.