These elegantly written portraits of three American statesmen are set against the background of the dramatic events and foreign policy controversies of the twentieth century. The purpose of the book is to explain how and why they arrived at very different solutions to the problems of Europe, and to show the continuing relevance of their ideas.

The problem of internecine conflict in Europe dominated the thoughts of American statesmen during the four decades after 1914. This study in the varieties of modern American experience of Europe traces the development of three distinct personal answers to the question of what to do with Europe.