Table of Contents

Part I. National Security in the New Age: 1. A world wounded; 2. Long-term economic realism; Part II. American Public Culture and the World: 3. 'Smooth comforts false' - the illusions that confuse us; 4. Towers of illusion: dysfunctional behaviors; 5. Mythomaniacs: the sources of our illusions; Part III. American Public Culture and Ourselves: 6. Champions of freedom or imperialists: how we're perceived; 7. We're different now; Part IV. The Reconfiguration of National Wealth and Power: 8. The economic roots of American power; 9. Economic disparities amongst nations; 10. Geopolitical aspirations of the nations; Part V. Vortexes of Danger: 11. A Witch's brew of troubles: the next big wars; 12. The Middle East; Part VI. The American Response: 13. Strategic independence: an ounce of prevention; 14. America as mature superpower; Part VII. Leading Toward Peace: 15. The dangers of overreach; 16. The transatlantic trap; 17. The middle course; Part VIII. American Presidential Leadership: 18. How public culture inhibits presidential leadership; 19. Choosing a great president; 20. Masters of illusions; Endnotes.

Promotional Information

Assesses the forces that will buffet the United States and the global order through 2050.

About the Author

Steven Rosefielde is Professor of Economics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Adjunct Professor of Defense and Strategic Studies, Center for Defense and Strategic Studies, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield. The author or editor of eleven books on Russia and the Soviet Union, including Russia in the 21st Century (Cambridge University Press, 2005), he is also a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Science. Professor Rosefielde has served as a consultant to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and advised several directors of the US Central Intelligence Agency and the US National Intelligence Council. Professor Rosefielde has also worked with the Swedish Defense Agency and the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute (Moscow) for more than a quarter century and with the Center for Defense and Foreign Policy (Moscow) for more than a decade. D. Quinn Mills has held the Albert J. Weatherhead, Jr. Chair in Business Administration at Harvard Business School since 1976. He was previously a professor at the Sloan School of Management at MIT. Professor Mills is the author of more than 25 books on leadership and management, including the forthcoming Human Resources Management (2006), Principles of Management (2005), Wheel, Deal, and Steal: Deceptive Accounting, Deceitful CEOs, and Ineffective Reforms (Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2003), and Buy, Lie, and Sell High: How Investors Lost Out on Enron and the Internet Bubble (Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2002). He has been a corporate or executive education consultant to more than a dozen Fortune 500 companies and in nearly 20 countries, as well as to the US Government's Fannie Mae program.

Reviews

"While too many writers offer the public mixed cocktails, Rosefielde and Mills have given us a cold glass of pure spring water. Numerous sacred cows are slaughtered with relish and many idols of the tribe are gleefully smashed. On every page readers will be delighted, provoked, aroused, or enraged, but most of all stimulated to think. This truly iconoclastic work is a book that will provoke what hopefully will be a long lasting debate here and abroad." Professor Stephen Blank, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College "Government think tanks around the world are working on policies how to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Professors Rosefielde and Mills' book addresses the need for a new American agenda for strength and security for the beginning of this century. It is provoking and challenging, and necessary to read!" Jan Rylander, Chairman of Research and Technology of WEAO, Western European Union "Masters of Illusion is an exceptional achievement and a fascinating read. It presents a compelling analysis in depth of world affairs and political-economic-strategic trends that greatly challenge the security and well-being of the United States. It also contains a cogent critique of American leadership and certain illusions that often misdirect policy. This is the best single book on international trends that I have read in a long time." William Van Cleave, Dept. of Defense & Strategic Studies, Missouri State University "Coming from outside the mainstream of conventional political-science discussions, Rosefielde and Mills offer what might be called a post-neoconservative book: Rejecting both the Bush Administration's neoconservative foreign and defense policies and the liberal alternatives, the authors advocate a strategic posture which they argue is 'best in future prospect for ourselves and the world.'" J. Peter Pham, director of the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs at James Madison University, The National Interest