Winner of the 2011 Stuart L. Bernath Book Prize, Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations Winner of the 2010 Best First Book Award, Phi Alpha Theta In this important book, Ekbladh provides one of the most compelling portraits yet of the liberal ideas that guide U.S. foreign policy... Even though the liberal vision of modernization lost appeal amid ... Read morethe trauma of the Vietnam War, as Ekbladh's fascinating account makes clear, it remains deeply embedded in the American imagination.
John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs [T]his is a book with a broad mandate... It is a significant contribution to have such a compelling account of the overall strategic impetus of American development during, before, and after the Cold War.
Travis Nelson, Political Science Quarterly Ekbladh offers a sweeping, provocative appraisal of the U.S. attempt to employ development as an ideological weapon.
Choice [E]rudite and ambitious... [A]n illuminating and compelling read.
David Milne, Journal of American Studies The Great American Mission deserves to take its place among the literature on the evolution of US foreign relations in the twentieth century.
Nicolas Bouchet, International Affairs David Ekbladh's excellent new book does valuable work in illustrating much of this complexity, and fleshing out its rich historical detail. He not only provides an impressive account of the evolution of American thinking about 'development' and 'modernisation', but also places this firmly in the context of both social and intellectual trends at work within the United States and the external demands being made of its foreign policy.
Adam Quinn, Journal of Transatlantic Studies [A]s a historical narrative it constitutes a very valuable and thorough contribution to understanding how modernization ideas furnished the foundations of American post-war development policy, whilst also supplying a series of interesting portraits of almost-forgotten figures who were intimately associated with this enterprise... [T]he book is a substantial contribution both to the literatures on the Cold War as well as the history of Western development policy, making it a worthwhile book for the specialist and the interested general reader alike.
Willem Oosterveld, Political Science Journal Show Less