The United States emerged from a revolution against empire and became the most influential republic in modern history. It championed constitutional government, individual liberty and democratic ideals while building unprecedented economic, military and political power.America's rise has always contained a tension at its core.The same nation that proclaimed universal rights tolerated slavery. The same democracy that expanded political participation also generated profound inequalities of wealth and influence. The same state that helped shape the post-war international order repeatedly confronted questions of intervention, accountability and the application of the principles it claimed to defend.Liberty and Power traces this tension from the Revolution and westward expansion to industrialisation, global conflict, the Cold War and the emerging multipolar world of the twenty-first century.Neither a celebration nor a condemnation, it examines one of the defining questions of the modern age:Can a republic founded on liberty reconcile its ideals with the realities of power?

The United States emerged from a revolution against empire and became the most influential republic in modern history. It championed constitutional government, individual liberty and democratic ideals while building unprecedented economic, military and political power.America's rise has always contained a tension at its core.The same nation that proclaimed universal rights tolerated slavery. The same democracy that expanded political participation also generated profound inequalities of wealth and influence. The same state that helped shape the post-war international order repeatedly confronted questions of intervention, accountability and the application of the principles it claimed to defend.Liberty and Power traces this tension from the Revolution and westward expansion to industrialisation, global conflict, the Cold War and the emerging multipolar world of the twenty-first century.Neither a celebration nor a condemnation, it examines one of the defining questions of the modern age:Can a republic founded on liberty reconcile its ideals with the realities of power?

The United States emerged from a revolution against empire and became the most influential republic in modern history. It championed constitutional government, individual liberty and democratic ideals while building unprecedented economic, military and political power.America's rise has always contained a tension at its core.The same nation that proclaimed universal rights tolerated slavery. The same democracy that expanded political participation also generated profound inequalities of wealth and influence. The same state that helped shape the post-war international order repeatedly confronted questions of intervention, accountability and the application of the principles it claimed to defend.Liberty and Power traces this tension from the Revolution and westward expansion to industrialisation, global conflict, the Cold War and the emerging multipolar world of the twenty-first century.Neither a celebration nor a condemnation, it examines one of the defining questions of the modern age:Can a republic founded on liberty reconcile its ideals with the realities of power?