World War II

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at how "The Reluctant Belligerent: American Entry into World War II" by Robert A. Divine chronicles the history of American isolationist diplomatic policy and quasi-isolationist diplomatic policy up to and slightly after the onset of America's entry into World War II. It examines how Divine's book argues that American policy actually exacerbated the international tensions that existed before America's entry into the war. It also discusses how the book suggests that American policy prolonged the subsequent world conflict, rather than stemming or containing the conflict's eventual spread to the far corners globe.

From the Paper:

"Divine, despite his stress upon a conceptual framework of isolationism versus interventionism in international affairs, still used the methods of an historian to structure his text. Thus, he took a chronological approach to the evolving conflict between America and Europe over the preceding decade to intervention and mobilization. What was so interesting about this approach, first and foremost, for a student of American history, was that Divine showed the evolving conflict from an American perspective, even though America was not formerly involved in the war at the time. Usually, American history books focus merely upon the Great Depression during the period, prior to America's entry into World War II but after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Divine did examine how the economic impact of the depression affected America's perceptions as an international diplomatic actor and reactor."

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