Synopses & Reviews
The United States in decline? Its admirers and detractors alike claim the opposite: that America is now in a position of unprecedented global supremacy. But in fact, Immanuel Wallerstein argues, a more nuanced evaluation of recent history reveals that America has been fading as a global power since the end of the Vietnam War, and its response to the terrorist attacks of September 11 looks certain to hasten that decline. In this provocative collection, the visionary originator of world-systems analysis and the most innovative social scientist of his generation turns a practiced analytical eye to the turbulent beginnings of the 21st century. Touching on globalization, Islam, racism, democracy, intellectuals, and the state of the Left, Wallerstein upends conventional wisdom to produce a clear-eyed—and troubling—assessment of the crumbling international order.
Review
It is compelling, a new explanation, a new classification, indeed a revolutionary one, of received knowledge and current thought. (Fernand Braudel)
Review
"[Wallersteins thought] provides a new framework for the subject of European history . . . it is compelling, a new explanation, a new classification, indeed a revolutionary one, of received knowledge and current thought." Fernand Braudel
"Lucid, informed, and insightful." The New York Times
About the Author
Immanuel Wallerstein is a senior research scholar in the department of sociology at Yale University and director emeritus of the Fernand Braudel Center at Binghamton University. He is also a resident researcher at the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme in Paris. His many books include
The Modern World-System and
Historical Capitalism. The New Press has published
After Liberalism,
The Decline of American Power, and a collection of his works,
The Essential Wallerstein. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut, and Paris, France.