What could be more timely? With the inauguration of the first U.S. president who would have, polls show, been elected by every other country in the world, global leadership and U.S. relations with other nations will be an essential part of discussion and debate in classrooms as well as around the dinner table. I was delighted that this review just came in from the UK-based Reference Reviews:

“accurate, balanced, and frank . . . a remarkably honest and informed survey of the USA in the world. ‘To see ourselves as others see us!’ That is indeed a rare gift, but one that [Global Perspectives on the United States] comes as close to achieving as almost any I have come across.” If understanding is intended to be mutual then the rest of us need to clarify our own attitudes to the USA just as the USA needs to understand how it is perceived across the globe. This book will help that process in any general or educational library collection.”

Berkshire’s Global Perspectives on the United States contains a great deal about the dramatic decline in people’s opinion of the United States over the past eight years. But our authors have dug much deeper, taking their stories back to the earliest days of European settlement. The first two volumes provide A Nation-by-Nation Survey and the third volume Issues and Ideas Shaping International Relations provides expert-written essays on the events, developments, and processes that shape global perspectives on the United States. We’re already wondering what stories a second edition might contain, and in the meantime Global Perspectives is an important and unique resource for history, political science, global studies, and international relations courses.