Description
Book SynopsisHistory records only one peaceful transition of hegemonic power: the passage from British to American dominance of the international order. To explain why this transition was nonviolent, Kori Schake explores nine points of crisis between Britain and the U.S., from the Monroe Doctrine to the unequal “special relationship” during World War II.
Trade ReviewThis is an important book that helps us understand what history tells us about the centrality of values in preserving a peaceful international order. -- Condoleezza Rice, Stanford University
A remarkable and timely chronicle—living history of the best sort. -- Brendan Simms * Wall Street Journal *
An artful book that, mercifully, amounts to much more than a conventional trot through the backstory of the ‘special relationship.’ …One of the strengths of this sharply observed book is its emphasis on historical contingency in determining the course of Anglo–American relations. -- John Bew * Times Literary Supplement *
This is a brilliant book, which uses a well-researched historical study as the context for a discussion of the international order of the present. -- A. W. Purdue * Times Higher Education *
An eloquently written and thoughtfully constructed treatment. -- Ali Wyne * Los Angeles Review of Books *
Schake provides a fresh and insightful account that focuses on key moments when American and British elites revised their judgments about each other and their changing geopolitical fortunes…The book is most fascinating in its details, illuminating the myriad struggles between London and Washington over the rules and institutions that would form the basis for Pax Americana. -- G. John Ikenberry * Foreign Affairs *
The peaceful passage of hegemonic power between the British and American empires is puzzling considering that virtually all previous hegemonic transitions were bloody. Kori Schake’s explanation of this puzzle is not only a welcome addition to the growing body of historically sensitive International Relations scholarship, but also a critical intervention in the contemporary debate on the future of international order. According to Schake, the chances of a peaceful transition to Chinese hegemony are minimal. -- Srjdan Vucetic, University of Ottawa
Why was the transition from the United Kingdom to the United States as the world’s predominant power managed without conflict between the two? In
Safe Passage Kori Schake describes the different stages of the transition, and the importance of the developing similarity between the two countries. This is a compelling thesis, engagingly written and sharply argued. -- Lawrence Freedman, King’s College, London
Eminently readable, incisively argued, and keenly erudite history…What makes Schake’s work so magical is that what made America special—as a country, an idea, an ideal, an idealization—is just what blunted the threat [of war with Great Britain]. Her work implores us to look around and see how delicate the current world order is, how contingent its formation, how necessary it is to attend to it, because averting future wars is conditional upon it. * The Bridge *
