by Geoff Dyer (Get the Book)After decades of dominance in world geopolitics, the U.S. is now facing a growing rivalry with China that will be the major factor in world politics in the coming decades. But that rivalry is not likely to be as intense and bitter as the Cold War rivalry with the Soviet Union. Instead, it will be characterized by a constant balancing of power and shifting coalitions, according to Dyer, economics correspondent for the Financial Times. Dyer focuses on three phenomena: the rising Chinese challenge to U.S. power in military might in Asia, nationalist policies on the world stage, and the challenge to the U.S. dollar by the strengthening Chinese currency. Dyer places the current rise of China in the broader context of changes in the Chinese Communist Party, including reform of its image since the Tiananmen Square massacre and more expansive economic, if not political, policies. Finally, Dyer addresses fatalistic views of the rise of China, arguing that the U.S. can continue to exert enormous influence if it stabilizes its own economy and neither confronts China nor isolates itself. A thoughtful, insightful look at changing geopolitics. --Booklist
