Yet Tooze's perspective is anything but narrowly American. His planetary history encompasses democratization in Japan and price inflation in Denmark; the birth of the Argentine far right as well as the Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia. The two books narrate the arc of American economic supremacy from its beginning to its apogee. It is both ominous and fitting that the second volume of the story was published in 2014, the year in which—at least by one economic measure—that supremacy came to an end.
Oh boy. The last paragraph sounds a bit ominous.
Will the US once again piss off some rising power through economic exploitation?
Or, will we recognize our past mistakes and use our great influence responsibly?
Yeah. We're screwed.