Containing the Communists: America's Foreign Entanglements

Children's Literature

When the United States came into existence one of the major tenets of the "Founding Fathers" was to refrain from foreign entanglements. However, as the decades passed and the United States emerged as an international power such a political stance became improbable. Thus, America became a nation that was swiftly drawn into virtually every major international confrontation. During the Cold War years that stretched from the conclusion of World War II until the disintegration of the Soviet Union the United States was forced to engage in military and covert operations in numerous lands. In Containing the Communists: America's Foreign Entanglements, Jennifer Keeley touches upon the seemingly contradictory nature of America's tendency toward isolationism while being forced to become interventionist. In nations such as Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Cambodia American forces both overtly and covertly opposed communism. As a result of this interventionist stance America became embroiled in a series of bloody and sometimes inconclusive battles. However, in the end, the policy of confronting communism, and the USSR in particular, eventually culminated in an end to the Cold War. In this well written chapter in Lucent Books' "The Cold War" series, readers will come to better understand not only how that result unfolded but also the human cost inherent in such a confrontational policy. While communism was contained the cost was billions of dollars and millions of lives. Jennifer Keeley does an excellent job of detailing this important and yet conflicted result. 2003, Lucent Books, Romaneck

School Library Journal

Gr 6 Up-In-depth examinations of specific aspects of the Cold War. Weapons, the better of the two, looks at the destructive power of nuclear arms and describes how fear of their use led to a balance of power between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Blohm discusses the development of the atomic bomb, and describes the air, missile, and submarine systems used to deliver it. He also discusses defensive and antiballistic missile systems, arms-control treaties, and the continuing danger from nuclear threats since the end of the Cold War. Keeley examines how the United States, in the name of containing communism, became involved in armed conflicts in Berlin, Korea, Egypt, Cuba, Vietnam, Angola, and, through the Iran-Contra Affair, in Nicaragua. Although the title indicates emphasis on American actions, the author sometimes fails to provide enough background about Soviet actions, a weakness that limits context and will reduce student understanding of the reasons the United States acted or reacted as it did. Both books include sidebars that excerpt primary sources and average-quality, black-and-white photos. The authors provide extensive documentation and are largely evenhanded in their discussions of the motives and actions of the Soviets and Americans. Although these books do not have the scope of single-volume titles such as James Warren's Cold War: The American Crusade against Communism 1945-1991 (Lothrop, 1996), they are good supplemental purchases.-Mary Mueller, Rolla Junior High School, MO Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.