by Peter Zeihan
First published 2023
Peter Zeihan argues that America stumbled into superpower status through a strategic gamble at the end of World War II. The United States dismantled old empires and created a naval-enforced global system that made oceans safe and turned enemies into trading partners. This artificial arrangement now faces collapse as geographic realities reassert themselves. Zeihan examines three converging forces: America's retreat from free trade commitments, global demographic aging that will drain markets and capital, and the American economy's march toward energy independence through shale production. While most nations face disaster as this system unravels, America possesses unique advantages. The shale revolution frees Americans from volatile energy markets. America alone among developed nations maintains a young population that can avoid the demographic trap. Most crucially, American geography remains unmatched in a world where distance and location matter again. Zeihan shows readers how these forces combine to overturn the current global order and create a new era of American dominance.
Genres: history, political-science, economics, non-fiction, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: thought-provoking
Tropes: alternate-history, collapse-of-empires
Setting: America, United States
Period: World War II
432 pages · Paperback · Twelve