Power in the 21st Century: Conversations with John Hall

ISBN: 978-0-7456-5323-5

Paperback

180 pages

June 2011, Polity

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Michael Mann is one of the top sociologists in the world today, and probably the leading figure in comparative and historical sociology.
He’s particularly well known for his projected trilogy on the sources of social power, a sociological history of societies from the beginning to the present, the first two volumes of which appeared in 1986 and 1993 and the third is due to appear in 2011 or 2012.
This book is based on a series of conversations between Michael Mann and John Hall. The conversations explore Mann’s highly influential account of power and enable Mann to develop his views on the changing forms of global power in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, covering topical themes like the end of the Cold War, the rise of the American empire, the growing power of China and India, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the global financial crisis and the looming environmental crisis.
This topical and wide-ranging book provides the reader with a very accessible analysis by one of the world’s leading social scientists of the major forces that have shaped our world over the last half-century.