In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of US Global Power - Hardcover

McCoy, Alfred W.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 178607415X ISBN 13: 9781786074157

Publisher: Oneworld Publications, 2018

Synopsis

For a decade America’s share of the global economy has been in decline. Its diplomatic alliances are under immense strain, and any claim of moral leadership has been abandoned. America is still a colossus, possessing half the world’s manufacturing capacity, nearly half its military forces, and a formidable system of global surveillance and covert operations. But even at its peak it may have been sowing the seeds of its own destruction.

Is it realistic to rely on the global order established after World War II, or are we witnessing the changing of the guard, with China emerging as the world’s economic and military powerhouse? America clings to its superpower status, but for how much longer?

About this title

About the Author

Alfred W. McCoy is Harrington Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2012, Yale University awarded him the Wilbur Cross Medal for work as ‘one of the world’s leading historians of Southeast Asia and an expert on…international political surveillance.’

From the Back Cover

As the dust settled after World War II, America controlled half the world’s manufacturing capacity. By the end of the Cold War it possessed nearly half the planet’s military forces, spread across eight hundred bases, and much of its wealth. Beyond what was on display, the United States had also built a formidable diplomatic and clandestine apparatus. Indeed, more than anything else, it is this secretive tier of global surveillance and covert operations that distinguishes the US from the great empires of the past.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oneworld Publications
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 178607415X
• ISBN 13: 9781786074157
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368