The Cambridge history of America and the world Volume 4 1945 to the present / edited by David C. Engerman (Yale University), Max Paul Friedman (American University, Washington, DC), Melani McAlister (George Washington University)

The fourth volume of The Cambridge History of America and the World examines the heights of American global power in the mid-twentieth century and how challenges from at home and abroad altered the United States and its role in the world. The second half of the twentieth century marked the pinnacle of American global power in economic, political, and cultural terms, but even as it reached such heights, the United States quickly faced new challenges to its power, originating both domestically and internationally. Highlighting cutting-edge ideas from scholars from all over the world, this volume anatomizes American power as well as the counters and alternatives to 'the American empire.' Topics include US economic and military power, American culture overseas, human rights and humanitarianism, third-world internationalism, immigration, communications technology, and the Anthropocene.-- Provided by publisher Contents Figures Maps List of Contributors to Volume IV General Introduction: What is America and the World? Introduction to Volume IV Part I. Ordering A World of States 1. Global Capitalist Infrastructure and US Power 2. Overseas Bases and the Expansion of US Military Presence 3. The Consolidation of the Nuclear Age 4. American Knowledge of the World 5. The American Construction of the Communist Threat 6. The Fractured World of the Cold War 7. The US and the United Nations System 8. American Development Aid, Decolonization, and the Cold War 9. Decolonization and US Intervention in Asia Part II. Challenging A World of States 10. US Foreign Policy and the End of Development 11. Oil and American Insecurity 12. US Mass Culture and Consumption in a Global Context 13. Imperial Visions of the World 14. Human Rights 15. Compassion and Humanitarianism in International Relations 16. Third World Internationalism and the Global Color Line 17. The Queering of US Geopolitics 18. Migration, War, and the Transformation of the US Population 19. Christian and Muslim Transnational Network 20. Native Americans, Indigeneity, and US Foreign Policy 21. Environment, Climate, and Global Disorder 22. Détente and the Reconfiguration of Superpower Relations Part III. New World Disorder? 23. The Illusions of the United States’ Great Power Politics after the Cold War 24. Neoliberalism as a Form of US Power 25. The US Construction of “Islam” as Ally and Enemy on the Global Stage 26. Technology and Networks of Communication 27. Humanitarian Intervention and US Power 28. Refugees, Statelessness, and the Disordering of Citizenship 29. Liberty, Security, and America’s War on Terror 30. The Global Wars on Terror 31. America and the World in the Anthropocene Index This volume examines the heights of American global power in the mid-twentieth century and the challenges to that power since. Highlighting cutting-edge ideas from scholars from all over the world, it anatomizes American power as well as the counters and alternatives to what was increasingly called 'the American empire.'