This is the first book to frame U.S. public diplomacy in the broad sweep of American diplomatic practice from the early colonial period to the present. It tells the story of how change agents in practitioner communities – foreign service officers, cultural diplomats, broadcasters, citizens, soldiers, covert operatives, democratizers, and presidential aides – revolutionized traditional government-to-government diplomacy and moved diplomacy with the public into the mainstream. This deeply researched study bridges practice and multi-disciplinary scholarship. It challenges the common narrative that U.S. public diplomacy is a Cold War creation that was folded into the State Department in 1999 and briefly found new life after 9/11. It documents historical turning points, analyzes evolving patterns of practice, and examines societal drivers of an American way of diplomacy: a preference for hard power over soft power, episodic commitment to public diplomacy correlated with war and ambition,an information-dominant communication style, and American exceptionalism. It is an account of American diplomacy’s public dimension, the people who shaped it, and the socialization and digitalization that today extends diplomacy well beyond the confines of embassies and foreign ministries. “This book makes multiple contributions, and while in no way exhaustive, I want to recognize three of them. … This is an ambitious book. … Those who study and/or practice diplomacy (and public diplomacy) will likely extract the most value from this book. It is an advanced analysis, and while it is well-written, the content is intensely packed together. … The book also serves as a springboard for further research and ideas for honing the practice.” (Katherine A. Brown, Journal of Public Diplomacy, Vol. 4 (1), 2024) “The book takes readers from the foundational experiences of the colonial American frontier, through the maturing of the Republic to the multiple global outreach campaigns waged during the twentieth century, into our own era of digitally powered diplomacy. … This is a book for the ages which belongs at the right hand of every scholar and practitioner with an interest in diplomacy’s public dimension.” (Nicholas J Cull, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Vol. 20 (4), December, 2024) “The book … represents a terrific compendium of accumulated observation and wisdom from one of the central figures in the field of public diplomacy studies.” (Professor Nicholas Cull, University of Southern California, USA) “… beautifully written … This is not simply another good book on American public diplomacy: it will be the book on American public diplomacy.” (Professor Geoffrey Wiseman, DePaul University, USA) “Bruce Gregory presents a thorough and elegantly written history of American diplomacy’s not always-successful efforts to influence the global public. This book will prove indispensable for public diplomacy scholars and practitioners.” (Philip Seib, Professor Emeritus of Journalism and Public Diplomacy, University of Southern California, USA) “Gregory thinks like an academic while seeing public diplomacy through the lens of the work of the men and women who have put flesh on the bones of US public diplomacy policies…This book is steeped in deep knowledge and his exceptional dedication to getting our understanding of public diplomacy right.” (Professor Jan Melissen, Editor-in-Chief The Hague Journal of Diplomacy) “In this original study, Bruce Gregory provides an account of how the public dimension to America's diplomacy was present before the creation of the Republic, evolved in response to historical turning points and changes in the technologies of communication, and remains of vital importance today. For anyone who wants to know what is exceptional about America's public diplomacy -for good and ill- and how the challenges it faces today might be addressed, Gregory provides much-needed answers.” (Paul Sharp, Professor of Political Science, University of Minnesota Duluth) “A captivating explanation of the unique origins of American style diplomacy with a focus on public diplomacy. This compelling ― and easy-to-read ― digest of the history ofAmerican diplomacy is a must-have for international affairs students, teachers, and especially practitioners. As a foreign policy practitioner, I wish I had read (and been able to reread) a book like this earlier in my career as it answers the question of why we do things a certain way and more importantly how we can use our past experiences, history, and culture to set us on the right course for the future.” (Roxanne Cabral, US Department of State, USA, View expressed herein is strictly her own and not necessarily those of the U.S. Government) “American Diplomacy’s Public Dimension, a masterful historical overview of American diplomatic communication, provides first-time insight into the evolution of U.S. public diplomacy from the colonial era to the present day. This book also offers a nuanced assessment