This opinion piece has an academic nature that lends some credibility, with good use of history. Contains both a lot of facts and a lot of opinions. Some opinions are sorely lacking in evidence or discussion of any kind. For example, the presumption that success requires population growth is very debatable.

An overly long, but ecellent overview of America at it world power crossroads. The major point of the story is that America must be willing to give up some of its power and be willing to regard other nations as equals in order to peacefully co-exist. Not to do so will probably result in even more wars than the ones over resources that are lurking in the world's futture

Not bad. Good for an oveview but must be read with a critical mind. Consider this comment. "The U.S. system may be too lax when it comes to rigor and memorization, but it is very good at developing the critical faculties of the mind." Yet elsewhere in the world most people consider the US mind to be seriously underdeveloped. This is only one arew where the author makes serious mistakes. But as I said, not bad for a good starting point.

a fascinating modern history, filled with facts and figures- europe, great britain and the united states, placing the u.s. in recent history at the forefront of the world. mr. zakaria goes from there to describing the problems the u.s. faces which can contribute to the loss of that position. some factors he cites as great benefits seem somewhat paradoxical, yet toward the end he places them in context, and implies that our greatest weakness is a failure of our political system.

As a former history major, I have often compared--as Zakaria does here--the U.S. to other imperial powers. The parallels, as he demonstrates here, are just too striking to ignore. His history is accurate. His arguments are compelling. And his conclusion convincing. A long read, but worth it.

Zakaria provides a sweeping and interesting view. His historical view has some lessons to learn from, lest they be repeated, though Zinn might fault him for omitting the role of labor unions and protest movements. The views on educating to take tests versus creativity speak against the philosophy of teaching just to take tests, such as emphasized in No Child's Behind Left. His demographic cautions fail to include the factor of global limits on the population carrying capacity of the planet, which we have exceeded. The assertion that though personal savings have gone negative, corporate savings are huge provides food for thought oth increasing gap between poor and rich, and the enormous dangerous increase of the power of ... More »

I could read stuff this great ALL DAY!

Being familiar with Mr. Zakaria's work form Newsweek, I know he provides considerable expertise on the US' future reputation as a superpower.

This opinion piece has little journalistic value. The author is poorly informed about history and evidently did no research, and thus draws parallels with Great Britain that would be ridiculed by anyone who has had a freshman college course in world history. The liberation of Iraq has exactly zero parallel with the Boer War. Zero. The U.S. has no colonies. The U.S. policies are increasingly in favor around the world, with recent elections of strong supporters in Italy, South Korea, Taiwan, and France, and earlier ones in which anti-U.S. leaders were replaced by pro-U.S. leaders too numerous to list. India is more closely allied with the Bush administration than with any previous one. The list of differences with Great Britain ... More »

Yes, we need more independent studies to give a fair and clearer views.