The current bestseller about the need for America to recognize that we are in a post-American empire economic period of history.

About the Author:

Fareed Zakaria is the editor of Newsweek International and writes a weekly column on international affairs. His previous book was The New York Times bestseller The Future of Freedom. He lives in New York City.

From the publisher:

"This is not a book about the decline of America, but rather about the rise of everyone else." So begins Fareed Zakaria's important new work on the era we are now entering. Following on the success of his best-selling The Future of Freedom, Zakaria describes with equal prescience a world in which the United States will no longer dominate the global economy, orchestrate geopolitics, or overwhelm cultures. He sees the "rise of the rest" -- the growth of countries like China, India, Brazil, Russia, and many others —- as the great story of our time, and one that will reshape the world. The tallest buildings, biggest dams, largest-selling movies, and most advanced cell phones are all being built outside the United States. This economic growth is producing political confidence, national pride, and potentially international problems. How should the United States understand and thrive in this rapidly changing international climate? What does it mean to live in a truly global era? Zakaria answers these questions with his customary lucidity, insight, and imagination.

From BuzzFlash:

Many of our readers know Zakaria as a lucid, thoughtful columnist for Newsweek. In "The Post-American World" he delivers the message that no politician in America is willing to tell to the American people: the period of American Empire is over. That means that we are going to need to go in the opposite direction of the Bush administration; instead of acting unilaterally, we will need to work cooperatively with the emerging economic powers, particularly India and China. And then there is the emergence of the European Union into an economic powerhouse resulting in the Euro beginning to surpass the dollar as the international currency.

It's not surprising to discover (although not in his book) that Zakaria is a supporter of Barack Obama, who emphasizes international cooperation over unilateral war.

Of course, the post-American world also includes the emergence of multi-national corporations as a force that supersedes national sovereignty in many cases, thus rendering the concept of nationhood -- to some degree -- a "patriotic" diversion from the larger economic forces at work to undermine sovereignty.

But Zakaria's focus is on "the rise of the rest of them" in terms of nations. Economies are kicking in around the globe (even if many third world nations are falling farther behind), and the U.S. needs to start pursuing a savvy strategy of maximizing its strengths while respecting the growing financial power of other nations.

Zakaria is no radical; he's a refreshing realist, an anecdote to the Neo-Con delusions of empire.