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We tend to think of the United States as a country promoting democracy and international liberalism across the globe, but in the grand scheme of American history, the U.S. has preferred to stay isolated avoiding alliances and only fighting  wars in the interest of domestic economics.  We highlight the various episodes and events that have shaped American Foreign Policy and Diplomacy. To help explain, we interview Charles Kupchan who is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and professor of international affairs at Georgetown University. From 2014 to 2017, he served as special assistant to the president and senior director for European affairs on the staff of the National Security Council (NSC) in the Obama administration. He was also director for European affairs on the NSC during the first Clinton administration. Before joining the Clinton NSC, he worked in the U.S. Department of State on the policy planning staff. He is also the author of  several books including No One's World: The West, the Rising Rest, and the Coming Global Turn (2012), How Enemies Become Friends: The Sources of Stable Peace (2010) and Isolationism: A History of America's Efforts to Shield Itself From the World (2020)