The World America Made

What would the world look like if America were to reduce its role as a global leader in order to focus all its energies on solving its problems at home? And is America really in decline? Robert Kagan, <i>New York Times</i> best-selling author and one of the country's most influential strategic thinkers, paints a vivid, alarming picture of what the world might look like if the United States were truly to let its influence wane.<br> <br> Although Kagan asserts that much of the current pessimism is misplaced, he warns that if America were indeed to commit &quot;preemptive superpower suicide,&quot; the world would see the return of war among rising nations as they jostle for power; the retreat of democracy around the world as Vladimir Putin's Russia and authoritarian China acquire more clout; and the weakening of the global free-market economy, which the United States created and has supported for more than sixty years. We've seen this before - in the breakdown of the Roman Empire and the collapse of the European order in World War I.<br> <br> Potent, incisive, and engaging, <i>The World America Made</i> is a reminder that the American world order is worth preserving, and America dare not decline.