By More Than Providence

In a history that spans the eighteenth century to the present, Michael J. Green follows the development of U.S. strategic thinking toward East Asia, identifying recurring themes in American statecraft that reflect the nation's political philosophy and material realities. Drawing on archives, interviews, and his own experience in the Pentagon and White House, Green finds one overarching concern driving U.S. policy toward East Asia: a fear that a rival power might use the Pacific to isolate and threaten the United States and prevent the ocean from becoming a conduit for the westward free flow of trade, values, and forward defense.

In a history that spans the eighteenth century to the present, Michael J. Green follows the development of U.S. strategic thinking toward East Asia. Green finds one overarching concern: that a rival power might use the Pacific to isolate and threaten the U.S. and prevent the ocean from becoming a conduit for the westward flow of trade and values.

Michael J. Green is senior vice president for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., and ?chair in modern and contemporary Japanese politics and foreign policy at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He has served most recently in government as special assistant to the president and senior director for Asia on the National Security Council staff.

William Inboden, Chair, Clements Center for National Security, The University of Texas, Austin:
Already a renowned Japan expert, Green combines his regional knowledge with a capacious strategic mind and historical sensibility. This is one of the most impressive books I have ever read. It is consistently original, providing on every page fresh insights immersed in a compelling narrative arc, and it is destined to be a lodestar among scholarship on history, strategy, and statecraft.

Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Distinguished Service Professor, Harvard University, and author of Is the American Century Over? :
With impeccable research and lucid prose, Michael Green provides a first-rate account of the deep historical roots of American grand strategy toward Asia. It is essential for understanding American policy toward a crucial region.

James Steinberg, Syracuse University and former deputy secretary of state:
Michael Green's magisterial study is a timely and insightful reminder of the deep and long-standing ties between East Asia and the United States, and the complex interplay between our economic and security interests, and our values, a dynamic which has shaped US policy for two and a half centuries. It is an indispensable point of reference for students and policy makers seeking to understand a critical region where history casts a long shadow, notwithstanding the extraordinary changes of recent years.