How should the United States act in the world? Every time Americans question whether to intervene in a foreign country, the argument is but a pale shadow of the debate that originally erupted more than a century ago. Here Stephen Kinzer transports us back to the turn of the 20th century, when the country first found itself with the opportunity and ability to dominate faraway lands. Theodore Roosevelt and William Randolph Hearst pushed for imperial expansion, while Mark Twain, Booker T. Washington, and Andrew Carnegie preached restraint; how the issue was resolved changed the very character of our nation, Kinzer argues, and altered the balance of power in the world.