“The Asia Pacific has been vital to understanding American ideas of nation and nationalism for over a century. Using archival evidence and IR theory, Giuseppe Paparella’s excellent book shows that the views of US presidents were shaped by the changing relationship with crises and changes with the region. This book gives the deep background that helps us understand why Asia remains crucial to US policymaking today.”

— Rana Mitter, Harvard University

"Paparella, a scholar of international relations, sets out to explain how American presidents’ nationalist belief systems have shaped foreign policy decisions involving Asia. He argues that deeply rooted ideas about the United States’ identity, status, and interests—and ultimately its place in the world—informed major decisions, from William McKinley’s annexation of the Philippines, in 1898, to the U.S. opening to China under Richard Nixon, in 1972. In the case of China, Paparella demonstrates how Nixon’s conviction that the United States had a historic mission to lead a new international order provided the strategic framework for rapprochement with Beijing. At the same time, U.S. domestic imperatives, notably military retrenchment and reductions to the defense budget, made China less suspicious of American intentions and more receptive to negotiations. Most important, Paparella challenges the conventional view that concerns over the Soviet Union were the main driver of the U.S.-Chinese opening. He finds that Nixon’s image of China as a colony enabled him to recognize its deeper anxieties about Japan’s resurgence and the prospect of an independent Taiwan, and he successfully incorporated those concerns into the diplomatic approach that made possible the normalization of relations between China and the United States."

— Elizabeth Economy, Stanford University (appeared on Foreign Affairs)

“Giuseppe Paparella has produced a stimulating and significant book. Ambitious in scope and based on an impressive amount of research, this book examines a series of key moments spanning seventy-five years to cogently show how four very different presidents’ national beliefs shaped their policy toward the Asia Pacific region. A must-read for both historians and theorists.”

— Steven Casey, London School of Economics

“In Abiding Influence, Giuseppe Paparella applies psychological and sociological principles to articulate his novel nationalist beliefs theory for a new interpretation of US foreign policy patterns in the Asia Pacific. This book will contribute to a more thought-provoking debate over the past and present frameworks of US engagement in this region.”

— Simei Qing, Michigan State University