«“This work is an important scholarly contribution. Newmann carefully reconstructs, with meticulous attention to archival sources, case studies of decision making on China policy across the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon presidencies. Yet there is more: he explores how the evolving decision-making structures and processes of each of these presidents, and the presidential actors themselves, affected policy outcomes. His overall analysis of a dynamic, ‘evolutionary-balanced’ model for understanding presidential choice is intriguing and worthy of attention.”
—John P. Burke, John G. McCullough Professor of Political Science Emeritus, University of Vermont “In Isolation and Engagement, William Newmann provides us with invaluable insight into the continual adaptation in the processes of presidential decision making, changes that are driven by the interaction of institutional political forces and idiosyncratic aspects of each president.”
—George C. Edwards III, University Distinguished Professor and Jordan Chair Emeritus, Texas AM University, and Distinguished Fellow, University of Oxford»