The Short American Century: A Postmortem - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674725697 ISBN 13: 9780674725690

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2013

Synopsis

Writing in Life magazine in February 1941, Henry Luce memorably announced the arrival of “The American Century.” The phrase caught on, as did the belief that America’s moment was at hand. Yet as Andrew J. Bacevich makes clear, that century has now ended, the victim of strategic miscalculation, military misadventures, and economic decline. To take stock of the short American Century and place it in historical perspective, Bacevich has assembled a richly provocative range of perspectives.

What did this age of reputed American preeminence signify? What caused its premature demise? What legacy remains in its wake? Distinguished historians Jeffry Frieden, Akira Iriye, David Kennedy, Walter LaFeber, Jackson Lears, Eugene McCarraher, Emily Rosenberg, and Nikhil Pal Singh offer illuminating answers to these questions. Achievement and failure, wisdom and folly, calculation and confusion all make their appearance in essays that touch on topics as varied as internationalism and empire, race and religion, consumerism and globalization.

As the United States grapples with protracted wars, daunting economic uncertainty, and pressing questions about exactly what role it should play in a rapidly changing world, understanding where the nation has been and how it got where it is today is critical. What did the forging of the American Century―with its considerable achievements but also its ample disappointments and missed opportunities―ultimately yield? That is the question this important volume answers.

About this title

About the Author

Andrew J. Bacevich is Professor of International Relations and History at Boston University.

Akira Iriye is Charles Warren Professor of American History, Emeritus, at Harvard University.

Emily S. Rosenberg is Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine.

Nikhil Pal Singh is Visiting Associate Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis and History Director of the Program in American Studies at New York University.

Eugene McCarraher is Associate Professor of Humanities at Villanova University and the author of Christian Critics: Religion and the Impasse in Modern American Social Thought. He has written for Dissent and The Nation and contributes regularly to Commonweal, The Hedgehog Review, and Raritan. His work on The Enchantments of Mammon was supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies.

Review

“Declining empires are dangerous. Popular enlightenment is urgent, and this book...will help... It is a valuable step toward the self-knowledge Americans will need if we and the rest of the world are to survive the long centuries ahead.”―George Scialabba, Dissent

“This collection of essays constitutes a how-to manual for people who sense something deeply wrong with the current bipartisan consensus on American power, but can’t quite articulate what it is.”―Nick Baumann, Commonweal

“Bracing and provocative.”―Kirkus Reviews

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0674725697
• ISBN 13: 9780674725690
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296
• Editor: Bacevich Andrew J.