Americans and All the Others: The Origins and Meaning of US Foreign Policy

In this book, the author examines three interrelated issues: how Americans have imagined themselves throughout the history of their country, how other nations have imagined America, and how this imagination has influenced the foreign policy of the United States and... the place it occupies in the world.
The perceptions of the residents of the US about themselves include not only a set of essential traits characteristic of 'real Americans,' but also a clear definition of those who do not belong to their common 'we,' as well as the selection of Others — peoples whose traits are described as opposite to their own, allowing for constant use of them for comparison. The book demonstrates the change in the composition of this 'we,' as well as the shifting significant Others with whom Americans have identified themselves over the centuries.