Recent History

Scrolling past the excerpt of the excellent Paul Krugman excelling himself, Eric Rauchway has this definition of recent history over at Altercation:

The recent history of the world divides into roughly four phases.

1865-1914: When the British Ran Things All Right, Considering;
1914-1945: When the Americans Made a Bad Mess Worse;
1945-1968: When the Americans Ran Things All Right, Considering, and
1968-present: When It Sure Looks Like the Americans are Making Another Big Mess But It's Still a Little Too Soon To Tell.

I guess you could quibble with this. In fact it's definitly quibblable. But, considering, it's pretty true.