The prospect of continued American global dominance has been the subject of lively debate since the British histor­ian Paul Kennedy warned of the danger of “imperial overstretch” in The Rise and Fall of Great Powers in 1987. That was published after defeat in Vietnam and the Islamic revolution in Iran. Since then, the United States has signally failed to achieve its goals in Afghanistan and Iraq and faces challenges in the Pacific from China and in Eastern Europe from Russia. The question of American hegemony has only become more acute. Joseph Nye, former dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and one of America’s most distinguished political scientists, has been thinking about this subject for over two decades. This short, excellent book prov