Unrivaled

Why America Will Remain the World's Sole Superpower (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)

By: Michael Beckley

Narrated by: Chris Monteiro

Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's Summary

The United States has been the world's dominant power for more than a century. Now, many analysts believe that other countries are rising and the United States is in decline. Is the unipolar moment over? Is America finished as a superpower?

In this book, Michael Beckley argues that the United States has unique advantages over other nations that, if used wisely, will allow it to remain the world's sole superpower throughout this century. We are not living in a transitional, post-Cold War era. Instead, we are in the midst of what he calls the unipolar era - a period as singular and important as any epoch in modern history. This era, Beckley contends, will endure because the US has a much larger economic and military lead over its closest rival, China, than most people think and the best prospects of any nation to amass wealth and power in the decades ahead.

Deeply researched and brilliantly argued, this book covers hundreds of years of great power politics and develops new methods for measuring power and predicting the rise and fall of nations. By documenting long-term trends in the global balance of power and explaining their implications for world politics, the book provides guidance for policymakers, business people, and scholars alike.

The book is published by Cornell Univesity Press.

"Should be part of any serious debate about where we are headed." (The New York Times)

"Smart and sophisticated." (Foreign Affairs)

"It will quickly become a classic in international security studies." (Keir Lieber, Georgetown University)

©2018 Cornell University (P)2019 Redwood Audiobooks

Great Statistical Information!

This was a Very interesting book about the Statistical Strengths and Weaknesses of the United States amongst the World Powers. I found it very interesting.. There was much data and information that might not be a common consideration when thinking about the Balancing act that is Worldwide Power and Hegimony. It addressed some amazing points to explain why the US is such a successful and long lived Democracy, The Author opened up points that could in fact, make improvements. My only complaint was when the Author put his Personal opinions into the book, mostly the last chapter, and of course, that was his intention from the start. If I was reading it again, I would skip the last chapter entirely. I prefer to leave the thought processes to the Reader instead of conjecture. Alas, it was published by Cornell Press, so that would have been expected. As nothing from there comes away without that slanted opinion. The Narrator did a wonderful job with this. Kudos! This book was provided free of charge in exchange for a fair review. Thank You.

My new favorite book

Required reading for anyone interested in geopolitics, military strategy, or foreign relations. Noone living today will see a world in which the U.S. is no longer the sole superpower. Indeed, the gap between the U.S. and the next 7 most powerful nations -- China, Japan, Russia, Germany, U.K., France, and India -- will only widen in coming generations. Other geopolitical experts have hit similar themes when comparing the U.S. to China (e.g., Peter Zeihan), but Michael Beckley cogently explains these themes better than anyone. Zeihan goes deeper on energy and fracking issues, but Beckley goes deeper on military issues -- especially his discussion on China's outsized ambitions in the Spratly Islands and its (feckless) threats to invade Taiwan.

The best book to read on the subject

If you are interested to know whether America will remain the only superpower or will be replaced by China or Russia, this is a very good book to read. The author makes a very strong case that the United States has very good demographics and geography compared to China or Russia. If you are interested in international relations you will find some of the measures he uses to measure how powerful a nation is to be groundbreaking and brilliant. It is a very illuminating book that you should read.

There are interesting future technologies that could make a big difference to the future including artificial intelligence and robotics which could counteract the challenges holding back China and Russia. The author does not deal with that since it would transform the book from one on geopolitics to one on future technologies. Perhaps you can familiarize yourself on how revolutionary technologies will impact society and make your own conclusions about that.

Obsessed With War

This is a factually accurate book, no disputing that, however it is obsessed with who will win a war against America. It misses the point that just about no nation on the planet has any intention of starting a war with the USA, it would be rather one sided. What countries like China want to do is defend their access to world trade. China is not cruising up and down the coasts of America or Europe in aircraft carrier centred battle groups or maintaining 500+ overseas military bases, as America. It is America who has sought regime changes around the world, that has intimidated countries, started wars based on untruths. These facts are hardly touched upon amongst the lists of who has the most of everything. A dissapointing, very one sided, listen.