My UNcle Bob's New Book-
***********************************
http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521697385

The American Era: Power and Strategy for the 21st Century
Robert J. Lieber
Georgetown University, Washington DC
Paperback
(ISBN-13: 9780521697385)
* Also available in Hardback
Available from February 2007
$18.99 (G)

* Lecturers can request examination copies for course
consideration.

The American Era makes a provocative argument about America's world
role. It establishes the rationale for a grand strategy that recognizes

American preponderance as necessary and desirable for coping with the
perils of the post-9/11 world. First, militant Islamic terrorism plus
weapons of mass destruction pose a threat of a entirely new magnitude
and require us to alter the way we think about the preemptive and even
preventive use of force. Second, the UN and other international bodies
are habitually incapable of acting on the most urgent and deadly
problems. Third, in an international system with no true central
authority, other countries will inevitably look for leadership to the
U.S. If America, as the world's foremost power, does not take the lead
in confronting the most dangerous threats, no one else is likely to
have
the ability or the will to do so. Thus, at a time when threats from
terrorism and weapons of mass destruction are a reality, and when such
values as human rights, liberty and stability cannot be reliably
assured
by institutions such as the UN and the European Union, active
intervention on those issues that matter most becomes a necessity, not
an option.

Contents:
1. Caveat empire: how to think about American power; 2. New (and old)
grand strategy; 3. Europe: symbolic reactions and common threats; 4.
Globalization, culture, and identities in crisis; 5. Iraq and the
Middle
East: dilemmas of U.S. power; 6. Asia's American pacifier; 7. Why they
hate us and why they love us; 8. Postscript: The Future of The American
Era.

Prize Winner:
Winner, 2005 Bronze Prize in Political Science, ForeWord Magazine

Reviews:

"This may be the best book on American foreign policy written since
Sept. 11. Robert Lieber is a scholar with deep insight, broad
knowledge,
and, what is lacking in most discussions of world affairs today, common

sense. Anyone thinking seriously global affairs today and in the coming

years should begin with this smart and sober work."
Robert Kagan, author of Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in
the
New World Order

"Robert Lieber has written a first-rate book...A work of scholarship,
yet accessible to a wider readership, a work of judgment, yet anchored
in the data and the objective world...a book of quality by a scholar of

genuine depth and authority."
Fouad Ajami, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies,
Johns Hopkins University

"A powerful book with truly global scope. Lieber is not only a
specialist on U.S. foreign policy, he has deep knowledge of Europe, the

Middle East, global energy, and security affairs...Lieber recognizes
the
costs and limits of military force, but he argues, without apologies,
for the prudent use of American military power to safeguard the U.S.
and, indeed, the world."
Charles Lipson, University of Chicago

"With its powerful thesis and compelling arguments, Robert Lieber's The

American Era is destined to become a key text in the global debate
about
American foreign policy."
Michael Mandelbaum, author of The Ideas That Conquered the World:
Peace,
Democracy and Free Markets in the Twenty-First Century

"[The American Era is ] a wonderful, elegant and compelling analysis in

every respect... It will become compulsory reading on my Masters US
Foreign Policy course next year and, I believe, should be read - and
hopefully understood! - by anyone interested in American foreign
policy.
It really represents a magnificent achievement and is a work of
exemplary scholarship. I hope and trust it receives the positive
impact,
reviews and sales that it thoroughly deserves."
Robert Singh, Birbeck College, University of London

"Distracted by the red-hot partisan debate over Iraq, one can easily
lose sight of the underlying strategic imperative that now guides
American foreign policy. Robert Lieber's The American Era: Power and
Strategy for the 21st Century serves as an invaluable primer on the
nature of that imperative, outlining in a comprehensive but accessible
fashion the continuing need for American global leadership."
Gary Schmitt, The Weekly Standard

"Lieber has produced an elegantly written and readable book. It is a
welcome and, in many respects, authoritative addition to the growing
literature on recent American foreign policy."
International Affairs

Mr. Lieber's book gives a comprehensive and in-depth explanation of the

foundations for the strategy and actions of the administration, of
interest to its supporters. At the same time, the book will compel
critics to consider the best arguments that can be made for the
administration's international policies."
The Washington Times

"Robert Lieber's The American Era: Power and Strategy for the 21st
Century is a brief but compelling review of American foreign policy
over
the last five years, and pretty much demolishes the idea that we are
roundly hated or that we are culpable for various alleged sins. A sober

and very readable account by a Georgetown University scholar whose
intellectual integrity and knowledge shine through on every page."
Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. His
latest
book is A War Like No Other. How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the
Peloponnesian War.

© Cambridge University Press 2007.

--
Robert J. Lieber
Professor of Government and International Affairs
Department of Government
Room 664, Intercultural Center
Georgetown University
Washington, DC 20057-1034