Publisher's Synopsis
"Traces the trajectory of the American Empire from its founding through to the end of the 20th century. This book demonstrates the falsity of the claim for American exceptionalism, a secular version of the old idea that America has been divinely founded and guided. The American Trajectory contains many episodes that many readers will find surprising: That the sinking of the Lusitania was anticipated, both by Churchill and Wilson, as a means of inducing America's entry into World War I; that the attack on Pearl Harbor was neither unprovoked nor a surprise; that during the "Good War" the US government plotted and played politics with a view to becoming the dominant empire; that there was no need to drop atomic bombs on Japan either to win the war or to save American lives; that US decisions were central to the inability of the League of Nations and the United Nations to prevent war; that the United States was more responsible than the Sov
