Includes index.

Introduction /Strobe Talbott and Nayan Chanda -- [ch.] 1. And now this : lessons from the old era for the new one / John Lewis Gaddis -- [ch.] 2. Empowered through violence : the reinventing of Islamic extremism / Abbas Amanat -- [ch.] 3. Maintaining American power : from injury to recovery / Paul Kennedy -- [ch.] 4. A Herculean task : the myth and reality of Arab terrorism / Charles Hill -- [ch.] 5. Clashing civilizations or mad mullahs : the United States between informal and formal empire / Niall Ferguson -- [ch.] 6. Preserving American values : the challenge at home and abroad / Harold Hongju Koh -- [ch.] 7. Rethinking the unthinkable : new priorities for new national security / Paul Bracken -- [ch.] 8. The challenge to science : how to mobilize American ingenuity / Maxine Singer -- Index.