' Stunningly good' Michael Burleigh Evening Standard Books of the Year 2017 The dramatic story of the relationship between the world's three largest economies one that is shaping the future of us all by one of the foremost experts on east Asia For more than half a century American power in the Pacific has successfully kept the peace But it has also cemented the tensions in the toxic rivalry between China & Japan consumed with endless history wars & entrenched political dynasties Now the combination of these forces with Donald Trump's unpredictable impulses & disdain for America's old alliances threatens to upend the region & accelerate the unravelling of the postwar order If the United States helped lay the postwar foundations for modern Asia now the anchor of the global economy Asia's Reckoning will reveal how that structure is now crumbling With unrivalled access to archives in the US & Asia as well as many of the major players in all three countries Richard Mc Gregor has written a tale which blends the tectonic shifts in diplomacy with the domestic political trends & personalities driving them It is a story not only of an overstretched America but also of the rise & fall & rise of the great powers of Asia The confrontational course on which China & Japan have increasingly set themselves is no simple spat between neighbors & the fallout would be a political & economic tsunami affecting manufacturing centers trade routes & political capitals on every continent