But with the American victory over the USSR and the Pax Americana that had lasted 50 years at that point, the longest in world history, a new view began to emerge. I want my readers to know about the new view.
The seminal book was by Walter McDougall published in 1997, Promised Land, Crusader State. McDougall was quickly supported by Michael Lind, Anatol Lieven, Robert Kagan and Walter Russell Mead.
The new thesis is that America's long history of creating a union out of disparate states has uniquely prepared America for the role of global suzerain. It took America nearly a decade to form the first government, another century to settle the most difficult intra-state battle over slavery, and the 20th Century to develop a strong and viable national government.
We have experience in negotiation, accommodation and problem resolution, something that is unavailable to the rest of the world.
Now you know.