History Has Begun

Popular consensus says that the US rose over two centuries to Cold War victory and world domination and is now in slow decline. But is this right? History's great civilizations have always lasted much longer and for all its colossal power American culture was overshadowed by Europe until recently. What if this isn't the end? <p/>In <em>History Has Begun</em> Bruno Ma��es offers a compelling vision of America's future both fascinating and unnerving. From the early American Republic he takes us to the turbulent present when he argues America is finally forging its own path. We can see the birth pangs of this new civilization in today's debates on guns religion foreign policy and the significance of Trump. Should the coronavirus pandemic be regarded as an opportunity to build a new kind of society? What will its values be and what will this new America look like? Ma��es traces the long arc of US history to argue that in contrast to those who see the US on the cusp of decline it may well be simply shifting to a new model one equally powerful but no longer liberal. Consequently it is no longer enough to analyze America's current trajectory through the simple prism of decline vs. progress which assumes a static model-America as liberal leviathan. Rather Ma��es argues that America may be casting off the liberalism that has defined the country since its founding for a new model one more appropriate to succeeding in a transformed world.<br>