The writing of international history has a long and distinguished history. At least since the days of Leopold von Ranke two centuries ago scholars have argued for a history that goes beyond national boundaries, and this sensibility has been never absent from the discipline in subsequent generations. But it’s a bigger thing now. And in an age preoccupied with globalization, global threats, and global interconnectedness, it’s understandable that we’re seeing the relative erosion of the time-honored marriage of nation and history. Yet therein lies a problem, inasmuch as the new international history often gives scant attention to the “traditional” topics of high politics, of state-to-state relations, and of the relationship between domestic politics and foreign relations, all vitally important subjects. Hence the irony: the new scholarship, even as it has broadened the discipline in key ways, has introduced its own narrowing as well.