The ghost at the feast: America and the collapse of world order, 1900-1941

At the dawn of the 20th century, the United States was one of the world's richest, most populous, most technologically advanced nations.

It was also a nation divided along numerous fault lines, with conflicting aspirations and concerns pulling it in different directions. And it was a nation unsure about the role it wanted to play in the world, if any.

Americans were the beneficiaries of a global order they had no responsibility for maintaining.