The End of the American Century (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"With remarkable clarity and evenness of tone, Mason's text provokes students to think out loud together about what it means to be American in the world today, and how a range of interconnected issues, conventionally ignored in more orthodox IR, are directly relevant to their future lives. I'm excited about teaching with this book." --Mark Rupert, Syracuse University

"Well designed and thoroughly argued. The author does a splendid job of backing up every one of his assertions. This book has an enormous amount to say and deserves a wide audience." --Mark Gibney, University of North Carolina at Asheville

This is a well-written, engaging, and impressive work in scope and integration. The End of the American Century provides the information and analysis for the informed discussion and debate about our economic and political problems that must take place as we face the monumental decisions that will decide our fate over the coming generations. It should be read by all who share a deep concern for the American future, but especially by young people who must live in it. --James R. Kluegel, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Review

Well designed and thoroughly argued. The author does a splendid job of backing up every one of his assertions. This book has an enormous amount to say and deserves a wide audience.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 286 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0742557014
• ISBN-13: 978-0742557017
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,065,095 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent long-term perspective for changing times, May 9, 2009

By	Samia Serageldin (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

At the beginning of the 20thC, the sun never set on the British Empire, and few would have predicted that it was the beginning of the end of what we might now call the British century. The 20thC, in retrospect, belonged to the United States. Today, in the first decade of the 21stC, far-sighted commentators like David Mason look beyond the single superpower status quo to a new role for America as a player, but not the sole dominant power, in the world of tomorrow. No doubt the Afghan and Iraq wars, by exposing the limits of projecting U.S. military power abroad, have hastened the realization of the end of the era of the go-it-alone superpower. The challenge to America in the first year of the new millenium may have come from an unthinkable attack launched from the Middle East, but the real, long-term challenge to American economic and military hegemony is developing in China, India and a united Europe. What the United States stands for in the new century- morally, economically, geopolitically- is taking shape today. This book seems to argue for the best of America's legacy to be passed on tothe world.Cairo House (Arab American Writing)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good book for overview of changing American role in world, February 3, 2009

By	William Beranek, Jr. (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Mason's book is a passionate, concise, easy-to-read description of the meteoric rise and collapse of the American Century of dominance from 1945 to the present and on to our choices for the future.

Mason structures the book around the idea of "The American Century" proclaimed in 1941 by the conservative Henry Luce (publisher of Life magazine ) in a famous essay and promoted in 1941 by the liberal FDR in his Four Freedoms speech. After the war, the stage was set under American supremacy to achieve these noble American ideals.

The book describes what happened then, using two critical threads of recent America history.

One thread is the arc of rise and fall of all empires. America reached its pinnacle after collapse of Soviet Union but by then the normal factors of empire decay were manifest. These forces are pushing America to be one among many countries instead of the supreme leader of nations.

The other thread is the George Bush presidency. According to Mason, his presidency not only alienated peoples of the world from the American government as its leader but also alienated them from the American people as stewards of the vision of democracy and freedom.

The chapters describe the rise and fall of American trends in affluence, heath care, crime, education, scientific capability, respect for international law, environment and economic strength.

He says our habits have become compulsions for products made elsewhere and paid for by borrowing money from overseas. That in turn has led to a national paranoia for security and profligate use of fossil fuels that threatens the global environment.

This is good book for the educated youth of today to understand the context of political and economic forces of world today and for all others who care about their future.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough and Readable. A much needed book., July 16, 2009

By	C. Hamman - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Professor David Mason's The End of the American Century is a must read for anyone seeking to understand either the current conditions of American society or what the twenty-first century will mean for the United States. Rarely has such an empirical powerhouse been joined with the sort of no-nonsense prose and intellectual honesty found in Mason's writing.

Fundamentally, this text attempts to demonstrate how the United States--the dominant global power since the Second World War--has fallen into a cycle of systematic decline, both causing and effecting harms in economics, politics, social welfare, and international affairs.

While others have attempted to articulate the changes and challenges of the coming century, Mason's work stands apart on several counts.

The most apparent, even upon a glance, is that this book backs up every assertion with mountains of evidence. Unlike the attempts of journalists and ideologues, which have typically relied on grandiose prose and subtle sophistry, Mason uses decades of experience as a comparative political scientist to deliver gobs of solid citation.

A second quality of Mason's work, equally necessary as the first, is that the text refuses to be victimized by the weight of its data. Mason writes in a style rare for the academy, his paragraphs and points intelligible to any literate person. Moreover, the author refrains from mixing unfounded opinion with fact--a rare feat in today's political climate.

A final feature that sets this work apart is its scope. While other authors have focused exclusively on changes to either the United States or to the global scene, Mason manages to capture both the domestic and the international, devoting chapters to localized aspects of US decline, but taking care to tie these issues back to the global arena which they simultaneously shape and are shaped by.

Below I list a highly abridged account of the arguments presented in American Century. They can only be properly understood by keeping in mind that these are mutually reinforcing harms, ones that have resulted from institutions, popular actions, and long term trends.

Main Argument: While the United States was the dominant global power of the twentieth century (the "American century"), it is now suffering from multifaceted, interlocking harms which will dictate a more reserved place in the world in the years to come.

Chapter 1, Imperial Overstretch and Economic Decline: Mason argues that national debt, budget deficits, trade deficits, unfunded liabilities (Social Security and Medicare), and uncontrolled spending have created a precarious economic future for the United States. Attempting to alleviate economic decline with imperial expansion will merely exacerbate insolvency.

Chapter 2, The End of Affluence and Equality: Mason details widespread American poverty and the human hardships it presents. Considerable attention is devoted to economic inequality, crazed consumer spending, and negative savings rates.

Chapter 3, Torn Social Fabric: Inadequate Health Care and Violent Crime: The title of this chapter is rather explanatory. Mason relies heavily on his comparative background here, detailing how American exceptionalism truly exists (malignantly) in these areas.

Chapter 4, The Dimming of America: Education, Science, and Fundamentalism: Once again, the title is quite indicative. Mason shows how primary, secondary, and post-secondary education is failing in the United States. This is deeply linked to (the ignorance and dislike of) science and (the substantial embrace of) fundamentalism, forming an ideology that shuns the intellectual.

Chapter 5, Ailing American Democracy: Mason not only focuses on low voter turnout and political ignorance, but the moneyed politics, political propaganda, and lack of political accountability that foster democratic deficits. Lastly, he details the human rights abuses of the G.W. Bush administration, arguing that systems of surveillance and torture are antithetical to democratic values.

Chapter 6, Abandoning International Order: Unilateralism and International Law: Here, Mason discusses US disregard for international norms, citing a heap of treaties rejected by the United States, such as conventions on genocide or children's rights. Other international norms, such as those regulating military action, have been officially declared inconsequential by the United States, such as in the case of the Bush doctrine.

Chapter 7, The Last Gaps of US Supremacy: The Iraq War and Terrorism: Here, Mason reviews the costs of the Iraq invasion, in dollars, geopolitics, and human life. He underscores how Iraq represents a transition to a world whose problems are increasingly unsolvable by force and that must be met instead with cooperative and economic efforts--efforts shunned by the United States.

Chapter 8, The World Sours on the United States: This chapter is an analysis of global attitude toward the US government, US society, and US citizens. Mason finds that while negative international opinion has historically been directed against the US government, it has now begun to turn against Americans themselves, becoming particularly savage in the aftermath of the Iraq invasion.

Chapter 9, America's New Rivals: Europe, China, and Others: While the United States is poised for decline, other powers are rising. Mason gives particular attention to the European Union, China, and the rest of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries. Mason does not suggest any of these states or coalitions will attain the level of dominance held by the United States during the twentieth century, but he does see a new multipolar world emerging.

Chapter 10, America and the World after the American Century: In conclusion, Mason argues that although the United States is in the midst of decline, it need not be a catastrophic event for Americans. Although there are certainly frightening possibilities, if coming burdens are distributed fairly, and if institutional problems can be corrected, the US may find itself in a new, cooperative international order. Hope can be found in the active citizen, in long held but sleeping American values, and in the promise of coming generations.