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The Resource Tomorrow, the world : the birth of U.S. global supremacy, Stephen Wertheim

Tomorrow, the world : the birth of U.S. global supremacy, Stephen Wertheim

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Summary
A new history explains how and why, as it prepared to enter World War II, the United States decided to lead the postwar world. For most of its history, the United States avoided making political and military commitments that would entangle it in European-style power politics. Then, suddenly, it conceived a new role for itself as the world's armed superpower-and never looked back. In Tomorrow, the World, Stephen Wertheim traces America's transformation to the crucible of World War II, especially in the months prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. As the Nazis conquered France, the architects of the nation's new foreign policy came to believe that the United States ought to achieve primacy in international affairs forevermore. Scholars have struggled to explain the decision to pursue global supremacy. Some deny that American elites made a willing choice, casting the United States as a reluctant power that sloughed off "isolationism" only after all potential competitors lay in ruins. Others contend that the United States had always coveted global dominance and realized its ambition at the first opportunity. Both views are wrong. As late as 1940, the small coterie of officials and experts who composed the US foreign policy class either wanted British preeminence in global affairs to continue or hoped that no power would dominate. The war, however, swept away their assumptions, leading them to conclude that the United States should extend its form of law and order across the globe and back it at gunpoint. Wertheim argues that no one favored "isolationism"-a term introduced by advocates of armed supremacy in order to turn their own cause into the definition of a new "internationalism." We now live, Wertheim warns, in the world that these men created. A sophisticated and impassioned narrative that questions the wisdom of US supremacy, Tomorrow, the World reveals the intellectual path that brought us to today's global entanglements and endless wars. "Stephen Wertheim isn't only a great historian of American foreign policy. He uses history to offer a critique of American foreign policy that Americans desperately need now." "Americans now believe global leadership is their birthright; this splendid book uncovers the origins of that conviction. Wertheim's detailed analysis of strategic planning before and during World War II shows that the pursuit of global primacy was a conscious choice, made by a foreign policy elite that equated 'internationalism' with the active creation of a world order based on U.S. military preponderance. Myths about the seductive dangers of 'isolationism' helped marginalize alternative perspectives, leaving armed dominance and military interventionism as the default settings for U.S. foreign policy. A carefully researched and beautifully written account, Tomorrow, the World sheds new light on a critical period in U.S. history and reminds us that internationalism can take many different forms." "How did the idea of American military supremacy come to be understood as essential and inevitable? In this important and beautifully crafted revisionist history, Stephen Wertheim shows the way a foreign policy consensus in favor of American predominance was forged as Hitler ransacked Europe. It became an assumed necessity after World War II, and later fueled military build-up and ongoing armed conflict. By revealing the contingent path of American global militarism, Wertheim makes an urgent and overdue reassessment possible." "How did the United States acquire the will to lead the world? How did primacy come to be the natural posture of America's policy elite? In this groundbreaking new history, Stephen Wertheim overturns our existing understanding of the emergence of American global dominance. A work of brilliantly original historical scholarship that will transform the way we think about the past, the present, and the future."
Language
eng
Work
Instance
Label
Tomorrow, the world : the birth of U.S. global supremacy
Title
Tomorrow, the world
Title remainder
the birth of U.S. global supremacy
Statement of responsibility
Stephen Wertheim
Creator
Contributor
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
A new history explains how and why, as it prepared to enter World War II, the United States decided to lead the postwar world. For most of its history, the United States avoided making political and military commitments that would entangle it in European-style power politics. Then, suddenly, it conceived a new role for itself as the world's armed superpower-and never looked back. In Tomorrow, the World, Stephen Wertheim traces America's transformation to the crucible of World War II, especially in the months prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. As the Nazis conquered France, the architects of the nation's new foreign policy came to believe that the United States ought to achieve primacy in international affairs forevermore. Scholars have struggled to explain the decision to pursue global supremacy. Some deny that American elites made a willing choice, casting the United States as a reluctant power that sloughed off "isolationism" only after all potential competitors lay in ruins. Others contend that the United States had always coveted global dominance and realized its ambition at the first opportunity. Both views are wrong. As late as 1940, the small coterie of officials and experts who composed the US foreign policy class either wanted British preeminence in global affairs to continue or hoped that no power would dominate. The war, however, swept away their assumptions, leading them to conclude that the United States should extend its form of law and order across the globe and back it at gunpoint. Wertheim argues that no one favored "isolationism"-a term introduced by advocates of armed supremacy in order to turn their own cause into the definition of a new "internationalism." We now live, Wertheim warns, in the world that these men created. A sophisticated and impassioned narrative that questions the wisdom of US supremacy, Tomorrow, the World reveals the intellectual path that brought us to today's global entanglements and endless wars. "Stephen Wertheim isn't only a great historian of American foreign policy. He uses history to offer a critique of American foreign policy that Americans desperately need now." "Americans now believe global leadership is their birthright; this splendid book uncovers the origins of that conviction. Wertheim's detailed analysis of strategic planning before and during World War II shows that the pursuit of global primacy was a conscious choice, made by a foreign policy elite that equated 'internationalism' with the active creation of a world order based on U.S. military preponderance. Myths about the seductive dangers of 'isolationism' helped marginalize alternative perspectives, leaving armed dominance and military interventionism as the default settings for U.S. foreign policy. A carefully researched and beautifully written account, Tomorrow, the World sheds new light on a critical period in U.S. history and reminds us that internationalism can take many different forms." "How did the idea of American military supremacy come to be understood as essential and inevitable? In this important and beautifully crafted revisionist history, Stephen Wertheim shows the way a foreign policy consensus in favor of American predominance was forged as Hitler ransacked Europe. It became an assumed necessity after World War II, and later fueled military build-up and ongoing armed conflict. By revealing the contingent path of American global militarism, Wertheim makes an urgent and overdue reassessment possible." "How did the United States acquire the will to lead the world? How did primacy come to be the natural posture of America's policy elite? In this groundbreaking new history, Stephen Wertheim overturns our existing understanding of the emergence of American global dominance. A work of brilliantly original historical scholarship that will transform the way we think about the past, the present, and the future."
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technical information on music
Cataloging source
Midwest
http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/collectionName
hoopla (Digital media service)
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Wertheim, Stephen,
Dewey number
327.73
Form of composition
not applicable
Format of music
not applicable
Literary text for sound recordings
other
PerformerNote
Read by Stephen Graybill
http://library.link/vocab/relatedWorkOrContributorName
Graybill, Stephen
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Internationalism
  • United States
  • United States
  • United States
Target audience
adult
Transposition and arrangement
not applicable
Label
Tomorrow, the world : the birth of U.S. global supremacy, Stephen Wertheim
Link
Instantiates
Publication
Distribution
Antecedent source
unknown
Capture and storage technique
digital storage
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
  • cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier.
Color
not applicable
Configuration of playback channels
unknown
Content category
spoken word
Content type code
  • spw
Content type MARC source
rdacontent.
Control code
MWT14853632
Dimensions
  • not applicable
  • unknown
Edition
Unabridged.
Extent
1 online resource (1 audio file (9hr., 10 min.))
File format
unknown
Form of item
  • online
  • electronic
Governing access note
Digital content provided by hoopla
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not applicable
Isbn
9781799937371
Isbn Type
(sound recording : hoopla Audio Book)
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not applicable
Kind of disc cylinder or tape
not applicable
Kind of material
unknown
Level of compression
unknown
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia.
Media type code
  • c
Other physical details
digital.
Publisher number
MWT14853632
Quality assurance targets
unknown
Reformatting quality
access
Sound
sound
Special playback characteristics
digital recording
Specific material designation
  • other
  • remote
Speed
other
Stock number
14853632
System details
Mode of access: World Wide Web
Tape configuration
not applicable
Tape width
not applicable
Label
Tomorrow, the world : the birth of U.S. global supremacy, Stephen Wertheim
Link
Publication
Distribution
Antecedent source
unknown
Capture and storage technique
digital storage
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
  • cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier.
Color
not applicable
Configuration of playback channels
unknown
Content category
spoken word
Content type code
  • spw
Content type MARC source
rdacontent.
Control code
MWT14853632
Dimensions
  • not applicable
  • unknown
Edition
Unabridged.
Extent
1 online resource (1 audio file (9hr., 10 min.))
File format
unknown
Form of item
  • online
  • electronic
Governing access note
Digital content provided by hoopla
Groove width / pitch
not applicable
Isbn
9781799937371
Isbn Type
(sound recording : hoopla Audio Book)
Kind of cutting
not applicable
Kind of disc cylinder or tape
not applicable
Kind of material
unknown
Level of compression
unknown
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia.
Media type code
  • c
Other physical details
digital.
Publisher number
MWT14853632
Quality assurance targets
unknown
Reformatting quality
access
Sound
sound
Special playback characteristics
digital recording
Specific material designation
  • other
  • remote
Speed
other
Stock number
14853632
System details
Mode of access: World Wide Web
Tape configuration
not applicable
Tape width
not applicable

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