By More Than Providence: Grand Strategy and American Power in the Asia Pacific Since 1783

The United States recognized the strategic significance of Asia and the Pacific and debated whether to partner with China or Japan. Michael J. Green's book "More Than Providence" explores U.S. strategic thinking toward East Asia, highlighting recurring themes reflecting the nation's political philosophy and material realities. It examines how major strategists and statesmen approached these issues, recording the fate of their ideas and America's stakes in the region.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 760 pages
Publication date: 15 January 2019
Publisher: Columbia University Press

Soon after the American Revolution, a select group of the founders began to grasp the immense strategic importance of Asia and the Pacific, encompassing the vast material and cultural resources at stake. Over the ensuing generations, the United States persistently sought ways to enhance trade relations with the region, weighing the options of partnering with China, situated at the heart of the continent, or Japan, oriented towards the Pacific. Determining the appropriate placement of the United States' defensive line and the means of exporting democratic principles became crucial questions. Spanning the eighteenth century to the present, Michael J. Green delves into the evolution of U.S. strategic thinking towards East Asia, unveiling recurring themes in American statecraft that align with the nation's political philosophy and material realities.

Drawing upon extensive archival research, interviews, and his own firsthand experiences in the Pentagon and White House, Green identifies a central concern driving U.S. policy towards East Asia: a profound apprehension that a rival power could leverage the Pacific to isolate and pose a threat to the United States, impeding the free flow of trade, values, and forward defense across the ocean. By examining these issues through the lens of history's foremost strategists and statesmen, ranging from Thomas Jefferson to Alfred Thayer Mahan and Henry Kissinger, More Than Providence offers a comprehensive account of the fate of their ideas as they encountered the realities of the Far East. It sheds light on America's stakes in the region, particularly when compared to Europe and the Middle East.

Weight: 1078g
Dimension: 156 x 233 x 45 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780231180436