Goldstein attended the University of California, Berkeley, graduating with a BA in political science in 1973.
[1] In 1983, she graduated with a PhD in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles.
The book studies the history of American trade policy up to the Presidency of Ronald Reagan.
[3] Thomas W. Zeiler summarised this proposed interaction, writing that Goldstein persuasively argues that "ideas give the pursuit of materialism and power greater credence and, most important, explain the curious anomalies in American trade policy".
[5] Goldstein also co-edited the 2010 Sage series International Institutions with the law professor Richard Steinberg.