The American ascendancy
Subtitle: how the United States gained and wielded global dominance
By: by Michael H. Hunt.
Series: H. Eugene and Lillian Youngs Lehman series
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Chapel Hill
Language: eng
Number of pages: 404
ISBN-13: 9780807830901
Subjects: Hegemony -- United States -- History.; International relations -- History.; Geopolitics.; World history.; United States -- Foreign relations -- 19th century.; United States -- Foreign relations -- 20th century.; United States -- Foreign relations -- 2001-
Description: "A simple question lurks amid the considerable controversy created by recent U.S. policy: 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."--Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.

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Table of contents: title: Nineteenth-century foundations; title: Grand projects, 1898-1920; title: The American way in a fragmenting world, 1921-1940; title: Reaching for geopolitical dominance, 1941-1968; title: In the American image, 1941-1968; title: The Third-World challenge, 1941-1968; title: Disoriented giant, 1968-1991; title: The neoliberal triumph, 1991-; title: Conclusion: Hegemony in question.