Reddit reviews Escape from Empire: The Developing World's Journey through Heaven and Hell

I haven't read this book, but suggesting that the USA's geopolitical control rests exclusively, or primarily, on her military power seems a little short sighted. It kind of seems to betray the effects of American consumption of goods and the proliferation of capital into foreign nations. The soft power of economy is just as decisive as the bayonet.

Edit ~ For a nice treatment on this subject, Amsden's "Escape from Empire" offers an analysis of the power of the American economic "empire", if you can overlook some of its arguments. There's some good reason to suspect that America will actually begin to lag behind foreign powers; and Friedman seems to take for granted that China's power structure isn't capable of adapting to change and structural inequalities. I'll stop making assumptions until I read his book, though.