to move past some of America's obvious flaws of the time at moments, he delivers a clear, concise chronicle. The book is dense in its discussion of the overall growth of the United States, as Coolidge attempts to create a full narrative. Overall, this books shows that American scholars at the beginning of the 20th century were thinking critically about the United States’ positioning in the world. 1) Introduction: In the Introduction, Coolidge outlines the status of global politics at the beginning of the 20th century. He quickly states, “The idea that one people should control the known world is ancient enough, its most salient expression being found in imperial Rome and equally imperial China; and it is not extinct even now." The tendency of states holding a considerably larger amount of power compared to others is a consistent trend throughout global history. Coolidge ranks the five great powers of the world in order: 1) Great Britain 2) Russia 3) France 4) United States 5) Germany. (9–12) Criteria included in these rankings are: size of landholdings, amount of resources, and birth rates. He includes these rankings to put the U.S's placing in the global scale of power in perspective. In conclusion, Coolidge asserts that the United States will have a huge role to play in the upcoming century and that this can either be for the benefit or detriment of the world.(15) 2) Formation and Growth: In this chapter, Coolidge outlines America's growth as a state from its founding. He describes the unique geography of the United States in order to differentiate the nation from other world powers. The U.S, located in the middle of the Western Hemisphere in a “wholly temperate zone”(19), is homogenous in its geographic makeup. There are no serious natural obstacles that block Americans from one another; other global examples include the Andes in South America, the Himalayas in Asia, and the Sahara in Africa. Coolidge then outlines America's growth as a state, originally starting as a number of colonies and later transitioning to own all land from the Atlantic to the Pacific. (22–36). This growth was initially threatened with the Civil War, in which North–South divisions reached an all-time low; however, Coolidge believed the abolition of slavery would eliminate the possibility of another conflict. (37) In slowly expanding throughout its history, from the Louisiana Purchase to the Gasden Purchase to the Alaska Purchase, the United