The common perception of the United States is as an isolationist nation with little regard for the rest of the World. From Washingtons farewell address to the Monroe Doctrine Americas tradition of isolation and separation has been confirmed again and again. Or so it is widely assumed.In Dangerous Nation Robert Kagan demonstrates that whilst we tend to believe that Americans do not care what happens in most of the rest of the world, this is in fact not the case. Dangerous Nation argues that Americans would be better off if they understood their nations history better. The pervasive myth of America as isolationist and passive until provoked rests on a fundamental misunderstanding of Americas foreign policies. Robert Kagans book sets the historical record straight and reveals an America that is as ambitious as it is expansionist.