Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire

Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire

by NiallFerguson (Author)

Synopsis

Is America the new world empire? Presidents from Lincoln to Bush may have denied it but, as Niall Ferguson's brilliant and provocative book shows, the US is in many ways the greatest imperial power of all time. What's more, it always has been an empire, expanding westwards throughout the nineteenth century and rising to global dominance in the twentieth. But is today's American colossus really equipped to play Atlas, bearing the weight of the world on its shoulders? The United States, Ferguson reveals, is an empire running on empty, weakened by chronic defecits of money, manpower and political will. When the New Rome falls, he warns, its collapse may come from within. "One of the timeliest and most topical books to have appeared in recent years." (Literary Review). "Yet another tour de force from a writer who displays all his usual gifts of forceful polemic, unconventional intelligence and elegant prose...guaranteed to spark fierce debate." (Irish Times). "A bravura exploration of why Americans are not cut out to be imperialists but nonetheless have an empire. Vigorous, substantive, and worrying." (Timothy Garton Ash).

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 416
Edition: 1
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 26 Mar 2009

ISBN 10: 0141017007
ISBN 13: 9780141017006

Media Reviews
Colossus confirms Niall Ferguson's standing as one of the most incisive writers of history, politics and economics today * Sunday Telegraph *
One of the timeliest and most topical books to have appeared in recent years * Literary Review *
Yet another tour de force from a writer who displays all his usual gifts of forceful polemic, unconventional intelligence and elegant prose ... guaranteed to spark fierce debate * Irish Times *
A bravura exploration of why Americans are not cut out to be imperialists but nonetheless have an empire. Vigorous, substantive, and worrying -- Timothy Garton Ash
Author Bio
Niall Ferguson is one of Britain's most renowned historians. He is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, a senior fellow of the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, and a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing. His books include The House of Rothschild, Empire, The War of the World, The Ascent of Money, The Great Degeneration and Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist. His many prizes include the Benjamin Franklin Prize for Public Service (2010), the Hayek Prize for Lifetime Achievement (2012) and the Ludwig Erhard Prize for Economic Journalism (2013).