The American Century.

• Author: COHEN, PATRICIA
• Position: How the United States formed the 20th century into 'the American Century'

The People and Ideas That Made It

How did we get from there to here? How did the United States of 1899--a mostly agrarian, inward-looking country, a second-rate, regional power--turn into the United States of 1999--the sole global superpower, without doubt the world's economic, military, and cultural leader?

When the last century turned, most people traveled by horse and buggy along dirt roads, lit their homes with kerosene lamps, and sent a telegram if they had to contact someone out of town. Still, the signs of America's growing place in the world could be discerned. In 1900, Hawaii and Puerto Rico became U.S. territories and the U.S. Navy bought its first submarine. Orville and Wilbur Wright flew their first glider, and New York City began digging its new subway system. Newly formed American companies tried to compete with foreigners in the infant medium of film, while writers like Mark Twain and Edith Wharton were adding a distinctively American voice to literature. Already the world's strongest industrial power, the U.S. was opening its doors to immigrants; one seventh of the population was foreign born. Oh yeah, and the hamburger made its first appearance--in New Haven, Connecticut.

The influx of talent from abroad, industrial might and technological innovation, the often brutal free-for-all of the free-market system, the democratic spirit of equality and opportunity, as well as America's incredible natural resources, all contributed to building the 20th...