The purpose of U.S. foreign policy has, at least theoretically, been to keep Americans safe. Yet as we confront a radically changed world, it has become indisputably clear that the terms of that policy have failed. Washington’s insistence that a market economy is compatible with the common good, its faith in the idea of the West and its special relationships, its conviction that global military primacy is the key to a stable and sustainable world order-these have brought endless wars and a succession of moral and material disasters.

In a bold reconception of America’s place in the world, informed by thinking from across the political spectrum, Andrew Bacevich-founder and president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a bipartisan Washington think tank dedicated to foreign policy-lays down a new approach-one that is based on moral pragmatism, mutual coexistence, and war as a last resort. Confronting the threats of the future-accelerating climate change, a shift in the international balance of power, and the ascendance of information technology over brute weapons of war-his vision calls for nothing less than a profound overhaul of our understanding of national security.

Crucial and provocative, After the Apocalypse sets out new principles to guide the once-but-no-longer sole superpower as it navigates a transformed world.