Gabriel Kolko provides a panoramic overview of the problems facing the US and the world today. Each chapter covers a key topic, spanning a range of international issues including the current financial crisis, the limits of US foreign policy, the politicisation of intelligence, and why a war with Iran would be likely to culminate in disaster for the US. Kolko also outlines why changes in military technology make all wars, no matter who fights them, increasingly futile. At the heart of the book is the idea that the international system is in the grip of a great transition. Kolko shows how America is losing its dominance, and examines the profound changes we are experiencing as it is forced to accept the limits of its military power.

This examination of the relationship of the economy to political process in the United States from 1877 to 1916 shows how the railroad industry encouraged and relied on national politics to solve its economic problems, and created a precedent for government regulation of the economy in the twentieth century. The continuity in governmental regulation from 1877 to 1900, in the Progressive Era, and in the administrations of Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson are pointed out. The origin of each major federal railroad act and contending forces is analyzed. Federal regulation of the railroads, probably the most important example of federal intervention in the economy from the Civil War to World War I is used as a key in reassessing the motives behind Progressivism. Originally published in 1965. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.