Introduction : the Kennedy thesis considered -- bids for mastery, 1500-90 -- seventeenth-century crises, 1590-1680 -- the rise of the great powers, 1680-1774 -- a reshaped world, 1775-1860 -- accelerated change, 1860-1913 -- bids for power, 1914-42 -- the fall of empires, 1943-91 -- American hegemony, 1991-2007? -- into the future

1. Balance of power -- Case studies
2. Economic history -- Case studeis
3. Military history
4. Modern -- Case studeis
5. History
6. Modern -- Case studies
7. military
8. economic history