Customer Reviews

After America: Narratives for the Next Global Age

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I found the first chapter or two a bit slow and not particularly good. The remainder of the book was worth the read. The premise of the book is that we are experiencing the decline of the US as the supreme global power. There are a number of specific examples on how we got to this condition (basically we have no one to blame but ourselves). This decline was inevitable as other nations progress and prosper; however, disastarous US foreign policy (read the invasion of Iraq) and our short-term, greed is good culture have only accelerated this trend.

Probably the best discussion centers on a world in which the US is not "number 1." Who will claim the title? Russia? China? The European Union? India? What is clear is that regional powers will grow in strength. What is not clear will be the structure and dominance of the multipolar world order. Will chaos reign or will a true world government emerge? All is speculation but very good food for thought.

One very clear message from this and other books well worth reading (e.g., Chalmers Johnson's triology on US foreign policy - Blowback, Sorrows of Empire & Nemesis): Cultural decline is rarely forced upon a dominant culture; rather it rots from within. We chose as a Nation to outsource manufacturing excellence and we wasted our soft power. We elected the officials with short-term vision (grab for all the rich bits as quickly as possible) and spurned the more long-term thinkers (e.g., Jimmy Carter & Al Gore).

The corollary to this is simple: for the US to slow its decline and to remain relevant in the world we must control our appetites and stop the short-term greed oriented decision making. The best protector of democracy is wealth and opportunity which are wisely distributed. The opposite which has held sway for around 30 years has made us less wealthy, less secure, more indebted and with fewer options.

Had never heard of Paul Starobin before, but I'm glad I know of him now. This book is a well researched, well reasoned, well presented investigation of how the USA arrived at our current world standing thus far, why we are preceived by the world as we are, how and why other nations are perceived too and why it's highly likely our country will not be the world's leading nation going forward. The author clearly spent years in research, traveling world wide to interview the policy makers and philosophers of our time and he's had access that most of us never will. I'm grateful that he shared his access with us and highly recommend this book as necessary reading. I plan to refer to it for years to come, to see how our country fares against the odds we currently face.

This author does an excellent job at discussing how America became an empire, and what the world may look like after our empire has passed. Many books on this general topic tend to be very dark and depressing, but this author does a fantastic job of looking at many of the possible outcomes, not all of which are dark and gloomy.

This book is well done but written in a dry academic style that some may not care for. Seems more like a sociology text. I still liked it and would recommend. To buy ANY hardcover book, even used, at this price nowadays is just amazing.

This book was actually more entertaining than I expected.

This author is a journalist, and there is a lot of conjecture masked as information here, with a thinly disguised political bias catering to the current vogue that America is just another evolution of empire and hegemony. In one respect I agree: America did evolved from an empire...as did every country on the planet. Popular press does like simplistic broad brush strokes, though. And the ideas presented here are quite moderne' in that respect.

The most important point the author makes, despite himself, is that we are at one of those many points in time where history yields few insights about the present and even fewer hints about the future. Politicians, intellectuals, journalists, and even power brokers cannot predict the outcomes of current national evolutions. Adaptability and a sense of purpose is, and has always been, the best form of preparation for any culture.

Ironically this book will suffer the very fate Starobin outlines for the memory of 20th century America: A popular concept without long term viability. Poetic.

Glimpse(s) at "history" as well as "the current times" how they "might" pertain to the future of America's position ,domestically as well as globally.Also contains quotes(e.g. from G.K. Chesterton's 1922 "What I Saw In America").