An epic history: U.S. foreign relations from 1776 to now
George C. Herring, Alumni Professor Emeritus of History, may have officially retired from the University of Kentucky in 2005 after a 36-year teaching career, but his days as a leading scholar of U.S. history are far from over. Herring is the author of From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2008). The 1,035 page volume is part of the Oxford History of the United States series, described by Amazon.com as "the most respected multi-volume history of our nation in print."
From Colony to Superpower debuted at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., in October 2008. A November signing at the D.C. book store Politics and Prose — part of Herring's nationwide book tour — was televised by C-SPAN. The book has been named an "Editor's Choice" by the New York Times Book Review, and has been featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Christian Science Monitor and in a feature review on the Barnes and Noble Web site. In January 2009 Foreign Affairs magazine listed the book among the 10 best-selling books on U.S. foreign policy and international relations.
The book was one of five finalists for the 2008 National Book Critics Circle award in the nonfiction category. It has received the 2008 Robert Ferrell Prize given by the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations for the best book in the field.
Although such a comprehensive book is hardly light reading (literally - the hardback volume is a hefty two and a half inches thick and weighs nearly three and a half pounds), Herring's book motivates readers with engaging prose. Writing in the New York Times, reviewer Howard W. French notes that "What distinguishes [the book] is not so much the sturdy précis that the author serves up on the traditional obligatory highlights in the American story, but his narrative abilities. The narrative power lies partly in identifying themes that gradually give a strong organizational cohesion to his story." The book also features artwork ranging from portraits of the Founding Fathers to photographs of 9/11 and George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in 2003.
Herring is perhaps best known as a scholar of the Vietnam War — in fact, he is one of the nation's foremost scholars on the Vietnam conflict. He is the author of America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam 1950 - 1975 (4th ed., McGraw-Hill, 2002), LBJ and Vietnam: A Different Kind of War (Univ. of Texas Press, 1994), and Aid to Russia, 1941-1946: Strategy, Diplomacy, the Origins of the Cold War (Columbia Univ. Press, 1973). Herring edited The Secret Diplomacy of the Vietnam War: The Negotiating Volumes of the Pentagon Papers (Univ. of Texas Press, 1983), and co-edited The Diaries of Edward R. Stettinius (New Viewpoints, 1975).
As professor emeritus Herring remains active at UK, maintaining connections with the Department of History and the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce. In 2007 Herring was the keynote speaker and honoree at the "Making Sense of the Vietnam Wars: Local, National, and Transnational Perspectives" conference held at the University of Kentucky.
From Colony to Superpower is available at booksellers worldwide.
