The Thucydides Trap: How an Ancient Greek Historian Defined Contemporary US - China Rivalry

When the rising power of China threatens to displace the established power of America, war is inevitable.In this razor-sharp analysis, Oxford and King's College scholar George Macpherson examines the phenomenon known as the Thucydides Trap, the power transition theory currently playing out between the world’s two biggest economies: the US and China.Through uncanny historical foresight, Thucydides encapsulated many of the time-worn parallels of great power rivalry between Sparta and Athens 2500 years ago, and the Thucydides Trap comparison shows how close China and America are to an unthinkable war today.But Macpherson deconstructs the myth of the Thucydides Trap, showing its inadequacies and how modern historians have based their judgement on a 19th-century mistranslation. And yet the further he demolishes the idea of the Trap, the more he also reveals how inevitable war is...'Superior intellect, devastating insight, revolutionary thinking... George Macpherson is truly the Thucydides of the 21st century.' - Obama'The best classical read since Thucydides himself!' - Johnson‘When the Thucydides Trap becomes the Thucydides Crisis - you know you have to read this book.' - Kissinger Read more