Alfred McCoy holds the Harrington Chair in History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His 2009 book Policing America's Empire won the Kahin Prize from the Association for Asian Studies. In 2012, Yale University awarded him the Wilbur Cross Medal for work as "one of the world's leading historians of Southeast Asia and an expert on...international political surveillance."
In the Shadows of the American Century persuasively argues for the
inevitable decline of the American empire and the rise of China.
Whether or not one is a believer in American power, the case that
Alfred McCoy makes--that much of America's decline is due to its
own contradictions and failures--is a sad one. He provides a
glimmer of hope that America can ease into the role of a more
generous, more collaborative, if less powerful, world player. Let's
hope that Americans will listen to his powerful arguments." --Viet
Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the Sympathizer "[A]
brilliant and deeply informed must-read for anyone seriously
interested in geopolitics, the history of Empire, and the shape of
the future." --New York Journal of Books "What is the character of
this American empire?" Alfred McCoy asks at the outset of this
provocative study. His answer not only limns the contours of the
American imperium as it evolved during the twentieth century, but
explains why its days are quite likely numbered. This is history
with profound relevance to events that are unfolding before our
eyes.
--Andrew J. Bacevich, author of America's War for the Greater
Middle East: A Military History
"Alfred McCoy offers a meticulous, eye-opening account of the rise,
since 1945, and impending premature demise of the American Century
of world domination. As the empire's political, economic, and
military strategies unravel under cover of secrecy, America's
neglected citizens would do well to read this book."--Ann Jones,
author of They Were Soldiers "Sobering reading for geopolitics
mavens and Risk aficionados alike..." --Kirkus "McCoy's detailed,
panoramic analysis of the past, present, and future of the American
empire covers all spheres of activity including not just land, sea,
air, space, and cyberspace, but also the netherworld of covert
operations--and seasons all of this with some fascinating personal
vignettes. His new book, The Shadows of the American Century, joins
the essential short list of scrupulous historical and comparative
studies of the United States as an awesome, conflicted,
technologically innovative, routinely atrocious, and ultimately
hubristic imperial power."--John Dower, Pulitzer Prize-winning
author of Embracing Defeat, War Without Mercy, and The Violent
American Century "One of our best and most underappreciated
historians takes a hard look at the truth of our empire, both its
covert activities and the reasons for its impending decline,"
--Oliver Stone "In the Shadows of the American Century is a
valuable contribution to geopolitical discourse that draws
important lessons from history."--Foreword Reviews
"McCoy's latest book, In the Shadow of the American Century: The
Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power, provides an autopsy on a
dying empire, which has squandered its moral capital by promoting
wide-scale torture and mass surveillance....The end of empire
scenarios relayed by McCoy in dark terms could in turn provide
positive opportunities for societal change as the necessity for
constant war is removed." --The Progressive
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