This volume investigates the diplomatic strategies and policy decisions of the United States government regarding China during the period of 1955 to 1957. The editors, Harriet D. Schwar and John P. Glennon, compile declassified government documents to provide a comprehensive record of the Eisenhower administration's approach to the Taiwan Strait crises and the broader containment policy in East Asia. The text serves as an official historical record, utilizing primary source cables, memoranda, and meeting minutes to reconstruct the internal logic of American foreign policy during a period of heightened geopolitical tension.

Historians and political scientists utilize this volume as a foundational primary source for understanding the mechanics of Cold War diplomacy. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is typical of official government document collections intended for scholarly research.