In pondering whether "the American century" has come to end, renowned Cornell history professor emeritus Walter LaFeber argued that "there never was an American century" to begin with, in a public talk Nov. 11 on West Campus.

LaFeber, the Tisch Distinguished University Professor Emeritus, said he made such a statement reluctantly; after all, he co-authored the 1975 text "The American Century: A History of the United States Since the 1890s" (now in its sixth edition). But in the past few months, he said, "I've really had second thoughts about what the American century is all about, and I don't think there ever was one."

Speaking to an overflow crowd in House Dean Jefferson Cowie's Keeton House apartment, LaFeber distilled 70 years of American foreign policy into a one-hour tale of the United States' missteps and mistakes as evidence that the 20th century didn't belong to America.

Starting in 1941, despite claims that we would emerge as a "supreme power" if we entered the war, by 1946 the Soviet Union was in control of much of Eastern Europe and China was going communist, said LaFeber. "We suddenly discover that half the world is closed to us. I'd argue that [at this point] the American century was stillborn."

Then the Korean War in the early 1950s "was a horror picture," said LaFeber, with its devastating losses incurred after 250,000 Chinese troops attacked Gen. Douglas MacArthur's army when they pushed across the 38th parallel. "What comes out is almost traumatic for the United States," he said, as it "will not admit it lost its first war in history."

But the biggest costs of that war were the new cold wars with the Soviet Union and communist China. And then "into the 1960s and 1970s, the United States essentially lost control of Central America, which it had long considered its own backyard.

"If this is the American century, then how did Castro end up 90 miles off the coast of Florida" he said, and an American-installed military regime "in Guatemala, which had the worst human rights record in Latin America over the next 30 years."

But "the best example why this is not the American century" is Vietnam, he said, with its unanticipated costs in dollars and fatalities and the "harsh pictures" of helicopters leaving behind Vietnamese people who helped us during the 20 years in country.

The post-1989 era, since the Soviet Union collapsed, LaFeber suggested, should now be seen as the "age of fragmentation." There were 52 nations in 1950, but with the end of colonialism, by the early '90s, there were 192 countries.

"The more the world fragments, the less the term 'American century' applies," he said.

Rather than being "nation related," al Qaeda's new brand of terrorism "is nationless ... the ultimate fragmentation," he said. "Now you have to track down people in 70 different places, people who have no nation state."

Meanwhile, China is emerging as the world's No. 2 economy with an active military and independent political power; and Iran's influence grows over Afghanistan and Iraq.

And all this is occurring when "we have less in common with each than we've had for a century, since mass communications began," he said. Before, Americans listened to the same radio programs, watched the same four TV networks and read the same half dozen national newspapers. Now, "we're dealing with this fragmented world, and we're doing it with a fragmented political economy and fragmented politics."

Trying to get consensus in such a fragmented country and world will be the great challenge for today's students, he concluded.

Keeton House and the other West Campus residential houses aren't just for eating and sleeping -- they are intellectual hubs where house deans and fellows bring students and faculty together in informal ways, such as this year's Conversations at Keeton program featuring Cornell's "most interesting and influential."

"These events happen in the intimate space of my living room, and students come on their own for no reason but intellectual curiosity," says Keeton House Dean Jefferson Cowie. "And we do this every other week -- the energy of the happenings down here is truly extraordinary."

He shared e-mails from several recent speakers, such as Cornell computer scientist Jon Kleinberg, who wrote after his Nov. 4 talk on social phenomena in the online world: "I just wanted to say thanks again for inviting me to take part in the get-together Thursday -- I thought it was fascinating. ... I really enjoy these kinds of events because one always comes away amazed at the enthusiasm, earnest interest and breadth of knowledge that our students have. (And it seems like a great community in Keeton House.)"

And Satoshi Kanzawa, a visiting scholar and evolutionary psychologist from the London School of Economics, wrote after his September visit to Keeton House: "I have not been able to come down from the high of the intellectual stimulation and exhilaration I experienced tonight at Keeton House," he wrote. "It was truly a fantastic night, and I cannot thank you enough for inviting me. ... I can't believe something like this goes on routinely at Cornell."

And everyone is invited to these talks. To see what's coming up go to http://events.westcampushousesystem.cornell.edu:7790/cal/main/showMain.rdo.