Although the twenty-first century may well be the age of globalization, this book demonstrates that America has actually been at the cutting edge of globalization since Columbus landed here five centuries ago.
Lawrence A. Peskin and Edmund F. Wehrle explore America's evolving connections with Europe, Africa, and Asia in the three areas that historically have been indicators of global interaction: trade and industry, diplomacy and war, and the soft power of ideas and culture. Framed in four chronological eras that mark phases in the long history of globalization, this book considers the impact of international events and trends on the American story as well as the influence America has exerted on world developments. Peskin and Wehrle discuss how the nature of this influencewhether economic, cultural, or militaryfluctuated in each period. They demonstrate how technology and disease enabled Europeans to subjugate the New World, how colonial American products transformed Europe and Africa, and how post-revolutionary American ideas helped foment revolutions in Europe and elsewhere. Next, the authors explore the American rise to global economic and military superpowerand how the accumulated might of the United States alienated many people around the world and bred dissent at home. During the civil rights movement, America borrowed much from the world as it sought to address the crippling social questions of the day at the same time that Americansespecially African Americansoffered a global model for change as the country strove to address social, racial, and gender inequality.
Lively and accessible, America and the World draws on the most recent scholarship to provide a historical introduction to one of today's vital and misunderstood issues.
