Great powers ebb and flow.  A random walk through history shows the Turks, the Germans, the British, the Japanese, the Spanish have all, at one time, shaped geopolitics.  For most of the past century, America has stood atop the world.  Now China, after three amazing decades of internal growth, is looking to secure its place in the world.  

But is geopolitics a zero sum game?  Does American influence have to wane in order for China to expand?  Can China effectively shape and use its economic growth to expand its sphere of influence in Asia and Africa and as it does, how should the US respond?

Geoff Dyer, a veteran journalist who’s covered China for years for the Financial Times, examines all of this in The Contest of the Century: The New Era of Competition with China--and How America Can Win.

My conversation with Geoff Dyer: