Davis and Trani show where American images of Russia and China originated, how they evolved, and how they have often helped sustain foreign policies generally negative toward the former and positive toward the latter. This wide-ranging survey draws on memoirs, archives, and interviews, much of it appearing in print for the first time, to show how influential individuals shaped these perceptions and policies based on what they saw or thought they saw in those two countries.

Donald E. Davis is Professor Emeritus of History at Illinois State University. Eugene P. Trani is President of Virginia Commonwealth University. They are the authors of The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S. Soviet Relations (University of Missouri Press).