Expanded from the original edition to include the post-Cold War era, Making American Foreign Policy explores the struggle between the President and the Congress to shape U.S. foreign policy from World War II, through Vietnam and "Operation Desert Storm," to the Clinton Administration's policy in Somalia. Case studies make the book especially useful for classroom teaching and the six common themes identified give students a more focused understanding of foreign policy formulation.

"The case studies themselves are quite useful. Each provides a fairly detailed account of the setting and major developments in the policy process." - Presidential Studies Quarterly Review