America Second

Isaac Stone Fish examines the close ties that have formed between America's political and business leaders and the Chinese Communist Party. Many of the people involved sincerely believed they were doing the right thing, yet their choices have often come at a serious and frequently concealed cost to American and Western interests. Relations between the two countries have moved from eager economic partnership to uneasy partnership and then to open rivalry. The author asks why Americans were slow to recognize the challenges the Party poses and what can be done about them.

The book traces how the Party's influence in America grew. American leaders first welcomed China into the US economy, expecting that trade and engagement would push the country toward democracy. That expectation has not been borne out, and Stone Fish explains how many businesspeople and politicians have since become so dependent on China that they are reluctant to confront it. This influence took shape gradually and mostly out of public view. Among the figures whose roles are examined are former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, Disney chairman Bob Iger, and members of the Bush political family.

Stone Fish also outlines how this influence can be countered without sliding into paranoia, xenophobia, or racism.

Presented as a serious account of corruption and misguided intentions, the book considers what these developments mean for the future of the United States and for the wider world.