The Making of the Monroe Doctrine

Ernest R. May was Charles Warren Professor of History at Harvard University and Director of the Intelligence Policy Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Through broad research and ingenious presentation, May has elucidated an important and neglected aspect of this episode in American history.

The author makes good his justification for a new book. It is not simply that he has done a thorough job of research, ranging beyond the scope of his predecessors, or that he presents his findings in a prose that is a pleasure to read. He approaches the subject by asking himself what issues would have impressed well-informed contemporaries as determining policy decisions in 1823...An interesting and convincing approach to the Monroe Doctrine.