This volume provides a comprehensive assessment of one of the most critical periods in the history of US foreign policy - one that could easily define the twenty-first century. Based on extensive research, the book makes three large claims: first, that 9/11 has redrawn the map of the strategic world in much the same way as the Cold War did after 1947; second, that in spite of the Bush administration's many well publicized failures - most obviously in Iraq - in a number of areas its foreign policy overall has been more successful than critics are prepared to concede; and finally, that there will be very little change in US foreign policy once Bush has left the White House. This, however, will not slow down in any significant way the United States' more long-term loss of international influence. The American Century may at last be over.