A BOOK REVIEW OF THE UNITED STATES MOVES ACROSS THE PACIFIC

Abstract

In discussing the United States as a dominant geopolitical power in the 21^st century, one must first make it clear that to understand its present role in the Asia-Pacific region, it is befitting to trace back how it originally began. Published in 1946, Kenneth Scott Latourette’s The United States Moves Across the Pacific gives the readers an informed and legible account of his perspective on the existing status of the United States as a power in the immediate postwar period. As shown in this book review, Latourette’s insightful examination of the evolution of the United States originally from a novice, upon attaining independence, that utilized its desire to look for commercial partners as a first step towards exploring their role in the Asian setting, to reaching maturity as a player who successfully integrated power and policy as a method of flexing its rising influence in the global power which resulted in unwanted obligations that could jeopardize its standing relationship to these Asian nations. In sum, despite being published in the mid-20^th century, Latourette’s account exudes a unique quality of perpetuity as the essence of its contents is still lingering and very much evident in the present-day makings of the relationship between the United States and selected Asian nations mentioned in the book.