Ferguson (history, Harvard U.) argues that the US is an empire, although that's not necessarily a bad thing. Unfortunately, he contends, it is a bad thing that the US is largely not self-conscious of itself as an empire and is therefore unable to learn from the achievements and failures of past empires and is likely to remain non- self-conscious for the foreseeable future. For the new paperbound edition, Ferguson adds a preface defending the work against some of its critics and considering the implications of the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq for his thesis. Annotation 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
