The Decline of American Power

<b>The internationally renowned theorist contends that the sun is setting on the American empire in this lucid informed and insightful account (<i>The New York Times</i>).</b><br> <br><i>The United States currently finds itself [a] superpower that lacks true power a world leader nobody follows and few respect and a nation drifting dangerously amidst a global chaos it cannot control.</i><br> <br> The United States in decline? Its admirers and detractors alike claim the opposite: America is now in a position of unprecedented global supremacy. But in fact Immanuel Wallerstein argues a more nuanced evaluation of recent history reveals that America has been fading as a global power since the end of the Vietnam War and its response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 looks certain to hasten that decline. In this provocative collection the visionary originator of world-systems analysis and the most innovative social scientist of his generation turns a practiced analytical eye to the turbulent beginnings of the twenty-first century. Touching on globalization Islam racism democracy intellectuals and the state of the left wing Wallerstein upends conventional wisdom to produce a clear-eyed-and troubling-assessment of the crumbling international order.<br> <br> [Wallerstein's thought] provides a new framework for the subject of European history . . . it is compelling a new explanation a new classification indeed a revolutionary one of received knowledge and current thought. -Fernand Braudel