Constructing the U.S. Rapprochement with China, 1961–1974: From “Red Menace” to “Tacit Ally.” By Evelyn Goh. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 316p. $75.00.

The constructivist approach to the study of international relations seems to have become popular today. Evelyn Goh's book uses the constructivist approach to study one of the most dramatic events in the history of international relations in the twentieth century: Richard Nixon's rapprochement with China. The traditional orthodox interpretation of Sino-American relations views bilateral relations in the 1960s as an extension of hostility and antagonism that started in the early 1950s; Nixon's dramatic departure in the early 1970s resulted from his realistic calculation of American strategic interests and the assistance China might provide in counterbalancing the increasing Soviet threat. This book analyzes the Sino-American rapprochement from a different angle. By identifying and tracing, throughout the 1960s within the U.S. government, the changing perception of China and the idea of a new China policy associated with the rapprochement, Goh tries to answer the question of how the rapprochement could have been achieved, rather than why it happened in 1972.