The End of Ambition: The United States and the Third World in the Vietnam Era

"The value of this book is its granular dissection of the process through which actual policies are debated and decided on. . . . More such books are needed to flesh out our understanding of American foreign policy in the second half of the twentieth century."—David C. Unger, Survival: Global Politics and Strategy

“From noble aspirations to practical realities, Mark Atwood Lawrence insightfully analyzes the evolution of U.S. foreign policy toward developing countries in the 1960s. He shows that presidential leadership mattered—that there was a significant change from Kennedy to Johnson. He tells us why and how. We conclude with a clearer vision of international history during this crucial decade.”—Melvyn P. Leffler, author of For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War

“In this much-anticipated book, Mark Atwood Lawrence provides a lucid, incisive, and authoritative investigation into the demise of America’s liberal agenda in the developing world during the 1960s. The End of Ambition is a stellar book by a marvelous historian and writer working at the top of his powers.”—Fredrik Logevall, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam

“In a brilliant reexamination of the Vietnam War that takes a different, more global view, Mark Atwood Lawrence reveals the flickering and fading of U.S. influence worldwide. He shows how Lyndon Johnson and his advisers, beset by cynicism and domestic opponents, accommodated with regional strongmen, thrusting U.S. foreign policy onto an antidemocratic path, with consequences that reverberate to the present day. This is an essential book—one that transforms our understanding of American foreign policy during a pivotal era.”—Daniel J. Sargent, author of A Superpower Transformed: The Remaking of American Foreign Relations in the 1970s