Americans have been increasing their global power and influence steadily for the past four centuries. Even from the time of the Puritans, America was no shining "city upon a hill" but an engine of commercial and territorial expansion that drove Native Americans, French, Spanish, Russian and ultimately even British power from the North American continent. By the early 18th century, Puritan New England had entered "the emerging secular and commercial...

Her long stay in Istanbul (she's still there) gives her an outsider's vantage on myopic American arrogance that is bracing." -Ann Hulbert, The Atlantic In the wake of the September 11 attacks and the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Suzy Hansen, who grew up in an insular conservative town in New Jersey, was enjoying early success as a journalist for a high-profile New York newspaper. Increasingly, though, the disconnect between the chaos of world events...

"A timely, provocative expose of our political and business leadership's deep ties to China: a network of people who believe they are doing the right thing-at a great often hidden cost to our society"-- In recent years relations between China and the United States shifted from enthusiastic economic partners, to wary frenemies, to open rivals. Stone Fish traces the evolution of the Chinese Communist Party's influence in America. He explains how many...