A Life in the American Century

For the past eight decades, we have lived in “the American Century” – a period during which the US has enjoyed unrivalled power – be it political, economic or military - on the global stage.  Born on the cusp of this new era, Joseph S. Nye Jr. has spent a lifetime illuminating our understanding of the changing contours of America power and world affairs.  His many books on the nature of power and political leadership have rightly earned him his reputation as one of the most influential international relations scholars in the world today. 
 
In this deeply personal book, Joseph Nye shares his own journey living through the American century. From his early years growing up on a farm in rural New Jersey to his time in the State Department, Pentagon and Intelligence Community during the Carter and Clinton administrations where he witnessed American power up close, shaping policy on key issues such as nuclear proliferation and East Asian security.  After 9/11 drew the US into wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Nye remained an astute observer and critic of the Bush, Obama and Trump presidencies. Today American primacy may be changing, but he concludes with a faint ray of guarded optimism about the future of his country in a richer but riskier world.

Joseph S. Nye, Jr. is University Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus and former Dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He also served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Chair of the National Intelligence Council, and a Deputy Under Secretary of State, and won distinguished service awards from all three agencies. He is a world-renowned authority on American power in the modern era whose work has influenced generations of scholars and policy-makers. His books Soft Power, The Future of Power, The Power to Lead, Is the American Century Over? and Do Morals Matter: Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump are widely acclaimed and his writings have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the New York Times, the National Interest, the Financial Times and many other political publications. Foreign Policy named him one of the top 100 Global Thinkers and, in a recent survey of international relations scholars, he was ranked as the most influential scholar on American foreign policy.  He continues to write a regular column for Project Syndicate whilst enjoying life on his New Hampshire farm with his wife Molly.

Preface
1. The Early Years
2. The Vietnam Years: Johnson, Nixon, Ford
3. The Carter Years: State Department
4. The 1980s: Reagan, Bush and the End of the Cold War
5. The Clinton Years: The National Intelligence Council  
6. The Clinton Years: The Pentagon
7. The Clinton Years: Kennedy School Dean
8. The Bush Years
9. The Obama Years
10. Trump, Biden and Beyond