A thought-provoking and penetrating account of the post-Cold war
follies and delusions that culminated in the age of Donald Trump from
the bestselling author of The Limits of Power.
When the Cold War ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Washington
establishment felt it had prevailed in a world-historical struggle. Our
side had won, a verdict that was both decisive and irreversible. For the
world's "indispensable nation," its "sole superpower," the future looked
very bright. History, having brought the United States to the very
summit of power and prestige, had validated American-style liberal
democratic capitalism as universally applicable.
In the decades to come, Americans would put that claim to the test. They
would embrace the promise of globalization as a source of unprecedented
wealth while embarking on wide-ranging military campaigns to suppress
disorder and enforce American values abroad, confident in the ability of
U.S. forces to defeat any foe. Meanwhile, they placed all their bets on
the White House to deliver on the promise of their Cold War triumph:
unequaled prosperity, lasting peace, and absolute freedom.
In The Age of Illusions, bestselling author Andrew J. Bacevich takes
us from that moment of seemingly ultimate victory to the age of Trump,
telling an epic tale of folly and delusion. Writing with his usual
eloquence and vast knowledge, he explains how, within a quarter of a
century, the United States ended up with gaping inequality, permanent
war, moral confusion, and an increasingly angry and alienated
population, as well, of course, as the strangest president in American
history.
