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middle class in, 226–32

Middle East policies of, 8, 31, 52, 274

military forces of, xi, 48, 54, 140, 142–43, 174–78, 182, 185, 198–99, 241, 254, 259–63, 265, 267, 269–71

military spending of, 18, 105n, 142, 198–99, 241, 262

Muslim population of, 272, 276, 278

national debt of, 138, 140, 217–19, 241–42

nationalism in, 36–39

nuclear weapons of, 140, 142, 174–78, 265

oil needs of, 38

political system of, 186, 216, 232–38, 275–85

population of, 22, 50–51, 100, 200, 212–16

productivity of, 200, 281, 282, 283

United States (continued)

religious attitudes in, 122

rhetoric of fear in, 275–85

Russian relations of, 54, 190, 241, 247, 260, 266, 269

savings rate of, 216–19, 233, 241, 283

scientific research in, 198, 199, 200, 218–19

Soviet relations of, 4, 8–9, 20, 38, 141, 143, 144, 163–66, 196, 199, 244–45, 247, 252, 254, 255–56, 274, 275, 277, 284

special interests in, 234, 236

as superpower, 4, 49–61, 117, 120, 142–44, 182, 223–85

taxation in, 108, 223, 235, 236, 262

technology sector of, xiii, 58, 61, 198, 199, 200–212, 215, 217, 224–25, 228, 233

terrorist attacks against, 6, 10–11, 13, 16, 17, 29, 59, 241, 246, 247, 265, 270, 271, 272, 276, 277–80

unemployment in, xi, 227

unemployment rate in, 217, 226, 284

unilateralism of, 59, 246–55, 264–65, 267–69

as UN member, 118, 254, 264, 272

wage levels in, 229

in World War II, 36–37

urbanization, 102–3, 106, 110, 150, 153–55, 160, 167

U.S. Information Services, 271

Uttar Pradesh, 179

Uzbekistan, 54

Valentine’s Day, 88

Vedrine, Hubert, 246

Véliz, Claudio, 187

Venezuela, 6, 19, 31, 55, 190, 194n

venture capital, 201–2

Vesalius, Andreas, 68

Victoria, Queen of England, 184–85

Vietnam, 20, 133–34, 143, 157, 199, 252, 281, 284

Vietnam War, 20, 199, 252, 284

Vijayanagar, 67

visas, travel, 280

Voice of America, 96

Volcker, Paul, 25

Voltaire, 123

wage levels, 67, 206, 207, 229, 282

Wahhabism, 12

Wall Street Journal, 209

Walmart, 104, 281

warfare, 69, 73, 76, 85–86

War of 1812, 194

war on terror, 29, 241, 264, 269, 272–73, 276–80

“Washington consensus,” 107

Washington Post, 30, 211

Watergate scandal, 284

water supplies, 33

wealth, 65–67, 70n, 75, 76, 93–94, 151–52, 215–16

weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), 17, 250

Weber, Steven, 38

WEF Competitiveness Index, 212–13

Welch, Jack, 228

Weller, Robert, 126

Wen Jiabao, 114, 119, 134, 135

Western culture, 1–5, 15, 38, 41, 62–99, 126–27

wheat prices, 21, 31, 67

Whelan, Theresa, 270

Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany, 186n

Wilson, Woodrow, 182

Wohlforth, William, 257

Wolf, Martin, 139, 232

women’s rights, 88–89, 93, 157–58, 160–61

working class, 216

World Bank, 24, 41, 55, 130

World Economic Forum, 146–47, 200, 212–13

World Economy, The: A Millennial Perspective, (Maddison), 66n

World Trade Organization (WTO), 5, 27, 108, 137

World War I, 162, 190, 191, 195, 253

World War II, 20, 36–38, 40, 101, 134–35, 195–97, 253, 254, 256, 284

Wu Jianmin, 118, 128

Xinghai Fang, 118–19

Yalta Conference (1945), 196, 254

Yangtze River, 71, 111

Yeltsin, Boris, 107

yen, value of, 282

Youth (Conrad), 85

Yugoslavia, 10, 245

yutori kyoiku (relaxed education), 212

Yu Yongding, 49

Zambezi, 80

Zarqawi, Abu Mussab al-, 12

Zawahiri, Ayman, 13, 15

Zenawi, Meles, 130

Zheng Bijian, 119

Zheng He, 62–64, 70, 71, 77

Zimbabwe, 26, 130

* Even if an attack were to take place tomorrow, the fact that, for nine years, Al Qaeda Central has been unable to organize one explosion anywhere is surely worth noting.

* A note on terminology: For such a straightforward idea, gross domestic product (GDP) is a surprisingly complicated measurement. Although tradable items like iPhones or Nikes cost roughly the same from one country to the next, goods that can’t flow across borders—such as haircuts in Beijing—cost less in developing economies. So the same income goes much further in India than in Britain. To account for this, many economists use a measure of GDP called purchasing power parity (PPP), which substantially