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Article: Exceptionally American.(God and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World)(Book review)
- Article from:
- Policy Review
- Article date:
- February 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Hoover Institution Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WALTER RUSSELL MEAD. God and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World. ALFRED A. KNOPF. 449 PAGES. $27.95
IN THE ATTEMPT to explain America's rise to global preeminence--as in ambitious explanatory efforts more generally--historians, political theorists, and social scientists typically succumb to the temptation to isolate a single cause. Favored single-cause explanations for the unprecedented power that twenty-first century America exerts in world affairs include its military might and distinctive strategic doctrines; its geography--guarded by two great oceans, sharing the continent with benign neighbors to the north and south, and blessed with ...