The Foreign Service Journal, March 2003

intervention of 2001, he deplores the more general tendency to avoid committing U.S. forces where any risk to them is involved or the out- come is uncertain. Yet at the same time, he says, many in Congress are wedded to triumphal rhetoric “...without doing much to make that power relevant or acceptable to oth- ers.” He concludes that the age of imperialism is “dying” and says what is coming is still undefined, but expresses the hope that Americans will learn the danger of treating alien peoples as inferior and of “exaggerating the value of war...” Most importantly, he says that “imperialism, like slavery, debases rather than enhances democracy ... ” Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge wrote in 1914 that “We have at last become a world power in the finer sense, a power whose active partic- ipation and beneficent influence are recognized and desired by other nations in those great ques- tions which concern the welfare and happiness of all mankind.” Valuable as this book is as a work of historical analysis, perhaps Zim- mermann’s greatest achievement is prompting any serious reader to ponder whether America, the world’s sole superpower, can still make that claim today — and on what basis. Harry C. Blaney III is a retired Foreign Service officer who served on the Policy Planning Staff under Secretaries Kissinger and Vance. He is currently president of the Coalition for American Leadership Abroad (COLEAD). A Powell Bibliography Just two years into his tenure in Foggy Bottom, bookshelves are already beginning to fill with titles dedicated to Secretary of State Colin Powell. No doubt more are on the way. Only the passage of time pro- vides true historical perspective, but as long as the research is sound, books about contemporary politi- cians can help give some under- standing of their backgrounds and political philosophies. Readers interested in hearing from the man himself might consid- er his best seller My American Journey (Colin L. Powell, with Joseph E. Persico, Ballantine, 1996, M A R C H 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 55 B O O K S