Thomas W. Zeiler is Professor of History and Director of the Program in International Affairs at the University of Colorado Boulder, USA. He specializes in American history, focused on diplomacy and economics, globalization, baseball and sports, and World War II. He published Capitalist Peace: A History of American Free Trade Internationalism in 2022. Tom has served as the editor of the journal of record of his field, Diplomatic History, served as President of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR), as a member of the Department of State’s Historical Advisory Committee, and has lectured widely abroad, including holding Fulbright fellowships in Argentina, Japan, and France.

• IntroductionChapter 1: The American Century and Its Demise, 1941-1971 Chapter 2: The Pentagon Papers and Politics Chapter 3: China and the First ShockChapter 4: Gold and the Second ShockChapter 5: Japan and the Third ShockConclusion

Before Donald Trump, there was Richard Nixon, who during four months in 1971 made decisions that fundamentally disrupted the international order as well as America’s economy and society. Historian Thomas Zeiler has done a masterful job of analyzing these earlier disruptions and their long-term consequences for the United States and the world.