In pondering it I came to an unexpected conclusion: The United States performs for other countries many of the functions that governments carry out within the countries they govern. Such a picture is at odds with the widely held view of the United States as a global Goliath — a threatening, heavily-armed giant. That view is not entirely inaccurate, but as a description of the American global role, it is incomplete.

American power helps to make other countries secure and, by keeping the international economy working smoothly, also makes others more prosperous than they would be otherwise. Although they regularly criticize the American role in the world, moreover, other countries tacitly accept it by refraining from taking steps to overturn it.

While the Biblical Goliath was a thoroughly unsympathetic character, there is a case to be made for the twenty-first century foreign policies of the United States, and that case can be found in the pages of this book.