Drawing on a wide range of recently declassified documents, Lee outlines the regional and international context of American diplomatic history towards Korea and Vietnam and analyses the relationship between containment, the bipolar international system, and European and American concepts of empire at the beginning of the era of decolonization. He argues that although policy makers in the United Kingdom and Canada adopted a more defensive containment policy towards Communist China than the United States did, they generally supported American attempts to promote pro-Western élites in Korea and Vietnam. This is an important book for anyone interested in American foreign policy, Anglo-American relations, Asia and the international system, and British and Canadian foreign policies.

Examines the transitional years during which Britain's vital role in the formulation of Western policies declined markedly, and that simultaneously marked the take-off period of the Cold War. Covers the communist victory in China, the conclusion of the allied occupation of Japan with the restoration of sovereignty to the Japanese state, and the Korean War. Addresses Anglo-American relations and the strains caused by the differing attitudes of the two countries towards East Asia, suggesting that while Great Britain did not determine Western policies in East Asia, it did exert moderating influence on the US on significant occasions. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

"The Origins of the Cold War, Third Edition covers the formative years of the extraordinary struggle between the two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States. In a clear and concise manner, Martin McCauley explains how the Cold War originated and developed and unravels some of the complex issues that gave rise to the Cold War."--BOOK JACKET.

After World War II the United States, determined to prevent an extension of the influence of the Soviet Union and Communist China, took the lead in organizing the defence of Western interests in Asia. Exploring the foreign-policy objectives of the USA, Canada and the United Kingdom, this book examines the role played by economic and military aid in their attempts to establish pro-Western, anti-communist governments on the periphery of communist East Asia.

This volume examines the origins and early years of the Cold War in the first comprehensive historical reexamination of the period. A team of leading scholars shows how the conflict evolved from the geopolitical, ideological, economic and sociopolitical environments of the two world wars and interwar period.

The Cold War stayed cold in Europe but it was hot in Asia. Its legacy lives on in the region. In none of the three dominant historiographical paradigms: orthodox, revisionist and post-revisionist, does Asia, or the rest of the Third World, figure with much significance. What happens to these narratives if we put them to the test in Asia? This volume argues that attention to what has been conventionally considered the periphery is essential to a full understanding of the global Cold War. Foregrounding Asia necessarily leads to a re-assessment of the dominant narratives. This volume also argues for a shift in focus from diplomacy and high politics alone towards research into the culture of the Cold War era and its public diplomacy. "As a whole, the essays contribute to enriching our understanding of what was really happening in an era that is too often understood in the catch-all framework of the Cold War." - Akira Iriye, "Harvard University"