An excellent story that offers a comprehensive overview of China's current standing in the world, economically, politically, and militarily. Dominic Sandbrook touches on every aspect of China's global reach--in Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States. And he discusses China's growing military power as it relates to her obvious global ambitions, aptly comparing China's authoritarian rise to similar developments that occurred in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during the twentieth century. As the author concludes, "It is all too easy to close our eyes and wish for the best. But unless we are careful, what happens in 2039 could make 1939 look like a children's tea party. We cannot say that we have not been warned."

While threatening possibilities are identified, the story fails to take note of the fact that US military expenditures exceed the expenditures of all other nations in the world combined.