'On Empire' by Eric Hobsbawm

In his 90 years, British historian Eric Hobsbawm has seen war and contemplated its catastrophic impact on societies large and small. In his latest collection of essays, "On Empire: America, War, and Global Supremacy" (Pantheon: 128 pp., $19.95), he argues that the greatest danger in the 21st century is in "the global ambitions of an uncontrollable and apparently irrational government in Washington" bent on exporting an ideology of liberty and democracy and, in the process, squandering America's moral authority and influence.

Tough words, even from a historian long known for his Marxist philosophy. But as Hobsbawm traces global economic trends that favor "Asian dynamos" (China and India, among others), he notes persuasively that the United States, the world's sole superpower (by virtue of its high-tech military capability), is the only major empire in history that "has also been a major debtor" -- and currently is indebted to those very Asian governments.