On the eve of America's entry into World War II, Time magazine's Henry Luce proclaimed the onset of an American Century in which our values and goods would dominate the globe. Now, fifty years later, Americans have become anxious that this era is drawing to a close, taking with it the pride of world power and the promise of unbroken prosperity. Grand Illusion is about the dreams of glory and the forebodings of crisis with which American politicians and political thinkers have envisioned the country's rise and decline. It is, above all, the story of their illusions--from liberal hopes of a global New Deal to conservative fears of a Cold War Armageddon to reactionary yearnings for a paradise lost. John Judis's lucid, insightful exploration of the American Century begins with Herbert Croly, the founder of The New Republic and advisor to Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, whose ideas for a progressive America were dashed at Versailles after World War I. It closes with George Bush, a conservative President dreaming of a next American Century but haunted by a nightmare of decaying cities and an economy crippled by debt. Where Woodrow Wilson's America had to learn to assume world leadership, George Bush's America must now confront the equally daunting task of sharing it. Focusing on the individuals who shaped the nation's philosophy and policies--including George F. Kennan, Richard Nixon, and Lee Iacocca, and also former Communist spy Whittaker Chambers and former Vice President Henry Wallace--Judis portrays an America trying to reconcile its dreams with its realities, its principles with its commitments. How these politicians, statesmen, and intellectuals sought to do this--and how theyfailed--is a tale whose lessons are vital in determining the country's future course.