# Peace, War, and Liberty: Understanding U.S. Foreign Policy **URL:** **By** Christopher A. Preble **Published:** April 30, 2019 --- In its dealings with the broader world, has the United States been a force for liberty? In its dealings with the broader world, has the United States been a force for liberty? Should it be? And if so, how? To answer these questions, _Peace, War, and Liberty: Understanding U.S. Foreign Policy_ traces the history of United States foreign policy and the ideas that have animated it, and considers not only whether America’s policy choices have made the world safer and freer but also the impact of those choices on freedom at home. In this evenhanded but uncompromising commentary, Christopher A. Preble considers the past, present, and future of U.S. foreign policy: why policymakers in the past made certain choices, and how the world might look if America chose a different path for the future. Would America, and the world, be freer if America’s foreign policy were more restrained? ### Understanding U.S. Foreign Policy [Embedded content](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6-I5fsCA9w) ### Podcasts about the Book: Read Preble’s [introduction](https://www.cato.org/blog/peace-war-liberty-understanding-us-foreign-policy) to the book on the Cato Institute blog. Preble sat down with Caleb Brown to discuss the new book on the Cato Daily Podcast [here](https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-daily-podcast/eisenhowers-relevance-peace-war-liberty-today). Preble sat down with Anthony Comenga for a two-part discussion, part one is [here](https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/liberty-chronicles/ep-103-the-united-states-as-a-young-foreign-power-with-christopher-a-preble) \& part two is [here](https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/liberty-chronicles/ep-104-the-united-states-as-a-young-foreign-power-part-two-with-christopher-a-preble). Preble sat down with Trevor Burrus and Aaron Ross Powell on Free Thoughts [here](https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/free-thoughts/understanding-u-s-foreign-policy).