JOIN Professor Zelizer on February 13 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. for a chat about his book on Firedoglake book salon. The salon will be hosted by Professor Fredrik Logevall.

Hear Professor Zelizer interviewed and lecture about his new book:

- WHYY

- New Books in History

- WNYC

- KUOW

-Wisconsin Public Radio

- The Laura Flanders Show

- C-SPAN Washington Journal

-Miller Center of Public Affairs

Publishers Weekly

Despite its title, this insightful examination of the impact domestic politics has had on American foreign policy actually begins with the Spanish-American war. Zelizer (Taxing America) traces changing attitudes toward foreign engagement through WWI, including Wilson's failed advocacy for the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations, and arrives at the cold war era, his principle focus. His key themes are the competition between the Republican and Democratic parties for electoral advantage on issues related to international affairs and the expansion of executive authority that began with the Korean War in the Truman administration and continued intermittently through the George W. Bush era. The author emphasizes foreign policy throughout, devoting mere paragraphs to major domestic events like the Kennedy assassination and the contested presidential election of 2000. Zelizer's excellent analysis concludes with charting the rise and fall of conservative internationalism from Reagan to the election of Barack Obama, advancing a consistently thoughtful, complex and balanced argument about the decisive effect domestic politics has had on the evolution of the national security state.

Kirkus

"A timely analysis of the forces that will collide as President Obama ponders the way forward in Afghanistan."

Evan Thomas, author of Sea of Thunder and John Paul Jones

"Julian Zelizer is a patient and clear-eyed guide through the thicket of American foreign policy. He combines a feel for the sweep of history with a grasp of significant detail to bring alive America's often uncertain effort to elad the world."

Michael Kazin, author of A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings-Bryan and Professor of History, Georgetown University

"Julian Zelizer's comprehensive, unfailingly wise book should finally demolish the myth of bipartisanship in the making of America's wars and diplomacy. Vigorously argued and brilliantly researched, Arsenal of Democracy is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand political conflict in the nation from FDR to Barack Obama."

Frederik Logevall, Professor of History, Cornell University, and co-author of America's Cold War: The Politics of Insecurity

"Arsenal of Democracy is a myth-shattering history of the American national security state since 1945. Zelizer sheds important new light on the fiercely debated issues of the postwar era, and amply supports this core argument: in the United States, foreign policy is always a political matter. A marvelously instructive work."

Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland

"Simultaneously a lucid synthesis and a work of commanding original research, Julian Zelizer's sweeping tour de horizon on American foreign policy from the age of isolationism to the post-9/11 era demonstrates to a fare-thee-well that politics has never, ever stopped at the water's edge. In making the argument, it is mature, fluent, and authoritative."

Randall B. Woods, author of LBJ: Architect of American Ambition

"Whether you are looking for a historical context in which to evaluate the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan or simply for a riveting, up-to-date history of U.S. national security policy, this is the book for you."

Sean Wilentz, author of The Age of Reagan

"Arsenal of Democracy is a magnificent book by one of the finest American historians to come along in some time. Julian Zelizer's acuity about how American politics actually works, on many fronts, illuminates his sweeping narrative and reinterpretation of national security policy, from FDR through the age of Ronald Reagan. Exact in detail but grand in conception, it is a work of modern historical analysis at its best."

Bruce J. Schulman, William E. Huntington Professor of History, Boston University

"Extensively researched and vigorously argued, Arsenal of Democracy uncovers the intimate and complex interactions between domestic politics and national security policy in the post-World War II period, exploding the old saw that politics stopped at the water's edge. Ranging over half a century this ambitious book sets the standard for understanding the politics of national security policy in modern America."

Laura Kalman, Professor of History, University of California, Santa Barbara

"Arsenal of Democracy provides a provocative, timely and compulsively readable account of the vexed relationship between foreign and domestic policy and the tangled politics of national security since World War II."

Jeremi Suri, E. Gordon Fox Professor of History, University of Wisconsin

"Many Americans imagine a past era of bipartisan cooperation in our country around critical issues of war and peace. Zelizer shows that such a golden age never existed in our nation's politics. Instead, Democrats and Republicans have used foreign policy debates since World War II to push their partisan agendas and their electoral interests. Zelizer does not criticize this process, but he reminds us that successful foreign policy always requires effective manipulation of interests, fears, and aspirations at home. Zelizer offers a compelling account of how foreign policy is really made. Every citizen interested in understanding our nation's policies would benefit from reading this well-written book."