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The American Ascendancy: How the United States Gained and Wielded Global Dominance
A simple question lurks amid the considerable controversy created by recent U.S. what road did Americans travel to reach their current global preeminence? Taking the long historical view, Michael Hunt demonstrates that wealth, confidence, and leadership were key elements to America's ascent. In an analytic narrative that illuminates the past rather than indulges in political triumphalism, he provides crucial insights into the country's problematic place in the world today.
Hunt charts America's rise to global power from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to a culminating multilayered dominance achieved in the mid-twentieth century that has led to unanticipated constraints and perplexities over the last several decades. Themes that figure prominently in his account include the rise of the American state and a nationalist ideology and the domestic effects and international spread of consumer society. He examines how the United States remade great power relations, fashioned limits for the third world, and shaped our current international economic and cultural order. Hunt concludes by addressing current issues, such as how durable American power really is and what options remain for America's future. His provocative exploration will engage anyone concerned about the fate of our republic.
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What road did Americans travel to reach global preeminence? Taking the long historical view, Hunt demonstrates that wealth, confidence, and leadership were key elements to America's ascent. In an analytic narrative that illuminates the past rather than indulges in political triumphalism, he provides crucial insights into the country's problematic place in the world today. Hunt charts America's rise to global power from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to a culminating multilayered dominance achieved in the mid-twentieth century. He examines how the United States remade great power relations, fashioned limits for the third world, and shaped the current international economic and cultural order. Hunt concludes by addressing current issues, such as how durable American power really is and what options remain for America's future.
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Hunt charts America's rise to global power from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to a culminating multilayered dominance achieved in the mid-twentieth century that has led to unanticipated constraints and perplexities over the last several decades. Themes that figure prominently in his account include the rise of the American state and a nationalist ideology and the domestic effects and international spread of consumer society. He examines how the United States remade great power relations, fashioned limits for the third world, and shaped our current international economic and cultural order. Hunt concludes by addressing current issues, such as how durable American power really is and what options remain for America's future. His provocative exploration will engage anyone concerned about the fate of our republic.
<!--copy for pb
What road did Americans travel to reach global preeminence? Taking the long historical view, Hunt demonstrates that wealth, confidence, and leadership were key elements to America's ascent. In an analytic narrative that illuminates the past rather than indulges in political triumphalism, he provides crucial insights into the country's problematic place in the world today. Hunt charts America's rise to global power from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to a culminating multilayered dominance achieved in the mid-twentieth century. He examines how the United States remade great power relations, fashioned limits for the third world, and shaped the current international economic and cultural order. Hunt concludes by addressing current issues, such as how durable American power really is and what options remain for America's future.
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404 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 21, 2023
Erudite, deep, analytical, honest, unblinkered.
I think it might be the best academic book on political history I've ever read. Lots of material to delve into, controversial and open to debate. Hunt can't take into consideration ALL of the angles but he certainly plays devil's advocate like a pro, digging into the past and taking very educated guesses about the future.
Superb.
I think it might be the best academic book on political history I've ever read. Lots of material to delve into, controversial and open to debate. Hunt can't take into consideration ALL of the angles but he certainly plays devil's advocate like a pro, digging into the past and taking very educated guesses about the future.
Superb.
June 4, 2013
A short way in i had to research the author, Michael Hunt, to see who this person was who knows so much that is expressed so clearly. American history has never been made clearer. As a non-American i wonder how it would read, as to me it was like pulling back the curtain and seeing connections that i had missed all of my life. Hunt has Bill-Bryson clarity with the knowledge and scope of few others i have ever read. This work is monumental and should be on everyone's post-collegiate required reading list. What an insightful tome.
May 7, 2016
Hunt's account of the American rise to global power focuses on the deep roots of this power and the international factors that made it possible. His excellent chapters on pre 1945 USFP effectively dismiss the idea of isolationism by looking more at cultural and economic ties with the rest of the world. He shows how the US built a territorially massive, populous, and economically powerful nation that started shaping (and being shaped by) the rest of the world long before it became politically and militarily engaged. He also does a great job throughout the book of showing how culture shaped American policy making, such as his section on the persistence of ethnic and racial stereotypes in Cold War foreign policy.
Hunt also has some really good chapters on the postwar international order established by the US and the challenges it faced. Hunt argues that FDR's system was unique and successful because of its multilateralism, its accommodation of the interests of other powers, and its elevation of important ideas like human rights and diplomacy. This system faced many challengers, including the decolonizing states of the 3rd world. Hunt does a good job showing how the US didn't develop a coherent understanding of these places and too often put them in the Cold War framework, with disastrous results in many cases.
The book's weaknesses don't really show up until the last chapter and the conclusion. Unlike the rest of the book, these chapters are far too partisan, ideological, and negative. They come across as the Bernie Sanders version of everything that stinks with America rather than a balanced assessment of recent history. Hunt calls the post Cold War era the neoliberal triumph. He contends that the US adopted a radical free trade, deregulating, globalizing agenda around this time that has had terrible consequences for the environment, American workers, and developing nations. He harps on income inequality, the rise of a more selfish culture (think Bacevich), and military adventurism abroad. He may be right that Americans in the last quarter century have been too prone to see their culture and economic model as a universal good. However, my first question about this section is why it's called the neoliberal triumph. A lot of the people he's talking about were neoconservatives, especially those who wanted to spread democracy by force and topple dictators. I think he needed to be clearer about the ideas and people on both sides of the aisle who count as neoliberal. Second, this account is just way too pessimistic. Many economists have shown that the era of free trade, the embrace of more capitalistic economies, and globalization in general have lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty even if they may still be exploited in some ways. It is simply not fair to critique globalization without talking about this point. There is also no mention of the humanitarian aid, economic development, and diplomatic successes the US has achieved in the last half century. Unlike the rest of the book, the last chapter became a political speech rather than good history.
He did have a compelling argument in the last chapter that the term empire doesn't really capture how the US has wielded global power. The US is actually too preponderantly powerful and culturally/economically influential to be a mere empire. Rather, he defends the use of the term hegemon because the US has sought to shape the entire international order more than control territory and resources abroad. During its time of supremacy, it has tried to establish new norms, rules, and institutions to govern international relations and economics. Hunt ends on a sunnier note in saying that this has been a fairly successful enterprise, although he rightfully warns that in the 21st century the US will have to think about how to wield its power and influence in a more multipolar world.
This book covers a lot of ground and deals with a wide breadth of evidence. Despite the lack of critical distance from the recent past, students of US foreign policy and the US and the world at any point in American history should still check this one out.
Hunt also has some really good chapters on the postwar international order established by the US and the challenges it faced. Hunt argues that FDR's system was unique and successful because of its multilateralism, its accommodation of the interests of other powers, and its elevation of important ideas like human rights and diplomacy. This system faced many challengers, including the decolonizing states of the 3rd world. Hunt does a good job showing how the US didn't develop a coherent understanding of these places and too often put them in the Cold War framework, with disastrous results in many cases.
The book's weaknesses don't really show up until the last chapter and the conclusion. Unlike the rest of the book, these chapters are far too partisan, ideological, and negative. They come across as the Bernie Sanders version of everything that stinks with America rather than a balanced assessment of recent history. Hunt calls the post Cold War era the neoliberal triumph. He contends that the US adopted a radical free trade, deregulating, globalizing agenda around this time that has had terrible consequences for the environment, American workers, and developing nations. He harps on income inequality, the rise of a more selfish culture (think Bacevich), and military adventurism abroad. He may be right that Americans in the last quarter century have been too prone to see their culture and economic model as a universal good. However, my first question about this section is why it's called the neoliberal triumph. A lot of the people he's talking about were neoconservatives, especially those who wanted to spread democracy by force and topple dictators. I think he needed to be clearer about the ideas and people on both sides of the aisle who count as neoliberal. Second, this account is just way too pessimistic. Many economists have shown that the era of free trade, the embrace of more capitalistic economies, and globalization in general have lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty even if they may still be exploited in some ways. It is simply not fair to critique globalization without talking about this point. There is also no mention of the humanitarian aid, economic development, and diplomatic successes the US has achieved in the last half century. Unlike the rest of the book, the last chapter became a political speech rather than good history.
He did have a compelling argument in the last chapter that the term empire doesn't really capture how the US has wielded global power. The US is actually too preponderantly powerful and culturally/economically influential to be a mere empire. Rather, he defends the use of the term hegemon because the US has sought to shape the entire international order more than control territory and resources abroad. During its time of supremacy, it has tried to establish new norms, rules, and institutions to govern international relations and economics. Hunt ends on a sunnier note in saying that this has been a fairly successful enterprise, although he rightfully warns that in the 21st century the US will have to think about how to wield its power and influence in a more multipolar world.
This book covers a lot of ground and deals with a wide breadth of evidence. Despite the lack of critical distance from the recent past, students of US foreign policy and the US and the world at any point in American history should still check this one out.
September 19, 2021
A historical overview tracing the United States rise to world power and documenting its influence over global affairs from the late 1800s until the Presidency of George W. Bush.
The focus is mostly on the economy and the government elite especially the President. While the author does point out these as being critical factors in ascendancy, the times when social forces are taken more into account such as the awakening of independence in Latin America or the treatment of Native Americans were more rewarding to me.
One of the authors reasons for writing this book was that he felt much of the current material had become outdated. Alas, that is also the case for his book. Written in 2007, it could not take into account the Obama, Trump and Biden presidencies. To his credit, the author, did predict the upheaval in the philosophy of American ascendancy and America’s current struggle with even wanting that leadership role.
This book is difficult to listen to as an audiobook. It is very detailed. Missing a part as sometimes happens to me as I am falling asleep or concentrating on driving (though not at the same time, lol) initially led me to characterize this book as disjointed. Another shortcoming of the audiobook is the inability to utilize the documentation and footnotes dispersed throughout the paper copy. The paper copy also has a section titled “A Guide to Literature” which goes deeper in many aspects of the author’s theses and provides support for these in a way that the main text does not.
All in all, an interesting book but not for a quick read or listen. In fact, in this case, I would recommend a print edition to get the full benefit of the work.
The focus is mostly on the economy and the government elite especially the President. While the author does point out these as being critical factors in ascendancy, the times when social forces are taken more into account such as the awakening of independence in Latin America or the treatment of Native Americans were more rewarding to me.
One of the authors reasons for writing this book was that he felt much of the current material had become outdated. Alas, that is also the case for his book. Written in 2007, it could not take into account the Obama, Trump and Biden presidencies. To his credit, the author, did predict the upheaval in the philosophy of American ascendancy and America’s current struggle with even wanting that leadership role.
This book is difficult to listen to as an audiobook. It is very detailed. Missing a part as sometimes happens to me as I am falling asleep or concentrating on driving (though not at the same time, lol) initially led me to characterize this book as disjointed. Another shortcoming of the audiobook is the inability to utilize the documentation and footnotes dispersed throughout the paper copy. The paper copy also has a section titled “A Guide to Literature” which goes deeper in many aspects of the author’s theses and provides support for these in a way that the main text does not.
All in all, an interesting book but not for a quick read or listen. In fact, in this case, I would recommend a print edition to get the full benefit of the work.
July 1, 2013
Global view of US history - different, and important, perspective.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews