In this work, Gregory B. Poling evaluates US interests in the world's most complex and dangerous maritime disputes: American involvement in the South China Sea. Providing a deep history of America's geostrategy in the region from the late 19th century to present day, he focuses on how the dispute intersected with the longstanding US commitment to freedom of the seas and its evolving alliance network in Asia. With a heavy emphasis on decisions made by policymakers in Washington, Manila, and other Southeast Asian capitals, this book not only provides the most comprehensive account yet of America's history in the South China Sea, but it also demonstrates how that history should inform US national security policy in one of the most geopolitically important ocean areas in the world.