The American empire has always been built on violence, but what happens as it now faces the rise of China?
From the genocide of Indigenous peoples to the destruction of Iraq, the United States has been an expansionist project since its founding. But is the US imperial project in decline? This book traces the brutal arc of American imperialism, revealing a consistent logic: expansion through annihilation. Since 2001 alone, the US has funded proxy wars, armed allies' aggressive campaigns, and invaded sovereign nations with impunity—all while its economic foundation erodes beneath it.Yet, while the US burns trillions on forever wars and crumbling infrastructure, China has developed into a global economic competitor, outstripping the US on renewable industries and asserting itself as the center of the auto-industry. This raises the inescapable question: Will America accept its new status, or will it drag the world into catastrophic conflict to preserve its dominance?
The Wild West and Its Prey sets out the possibility of a new global frontline that crosses trade, geopolitics and technology.
Tariq Ali is a writer and filmmaker. He has written more than a dozen books on world history and politics—including Pirates of the Caribbean, Bush in Babylon, The Clash of Fundamentalisms and The Obama Syndrome—as well as five novels in his Islam Quintet series and scripts for the stage and screen. He is an editor of the New Left Review and lives in London.
The American empire has always been built on violence, but what happens as it now faces the rise of China?
From the genocide of Indigenous peoples to the destruction of Iraq, the United States has been an expansionist project since its founding. But is the US imperial project in decline? This book traces the brutal arc of American imperialism, revealing a consistent logic: expansion through annihilation. Since 2001 alone, the US has funded proxy wars, armed allies' aggressive campaigns, and invaded sovereign nations with impunity—all while its economic foundation erodes beneath it.Yet, while the US burns trillions on forever wars and crumbling infrastructure, China has developed into a global economic competitor, outstripping the US on renewable industries and asserting itself as the center of the auto-industry. This raises the inescapable question: Will America accept its new status, or will it drag the world into catastrophic conflict to preserve its dominance?
The Wild West and Its Prey sets out the possibility of a new global frontline that crosses trade, geopolitics and technology.
Creators
Tariq Ali is a writer and filmmaker. He has written more than a dozen books on world history and politics—including Pirates of the Caribbean, Bush in Babylon, The Clash of Fundamentalisms and The Obama Syndrome—as well as five novels in his Islam Quintet series and scripts for the stage and screen. He is an editor of the New Left Review and lives in London.
