After America: Narratives for the Next Global Age

by Paul Starobin and Paul Starobin

Moving beyond Fareed Zakaria's bestselling "The Post-American World," veteran international correspondent Starobin masterfully mixes fresh reportage with rigorous historical analysis to envision a world in which the U.S. is no longer the dominant superpower.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067002094X
• ISBN13: 9780670020942
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Viking Books
• Length: 358 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Thought provoking

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.

Excellent, thought-provoking discussion of our world image

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.

After America - We are the cause

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.