In this deeply researched and accessible study, Sarah B. Snyder provides a rich analysis of human rights activism and U.S. foreign policy during the “long 1960s,” a period she defines as the years from John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961 to Jimmy Carter's inauguration in 1977. Since the publication of her award-winning first monograph in 2011, a transnational history of human rights and the end of the Cold War, Snyder has been a pioneer in a rapidly growing field. From Selma to Moscow: How Human Rights Activists Transformed U.S. Foreign Policy makes a signal contribution to this body of scholarship.
The research underpinning From Selma to Moscow is impressive. In addition to extensive research in U.S. government archives, Snyder examined dozens of manuscript collections of members of Congress, human rights activists, and non-governmental organizations in U.S. cities and towns ranging from Sleepy Hollow, New York, to Boise, Idaho, along with...