I don't have a single book for you as that is a very broad theme, but honestly something textbook-y might be what you're looking for. Google for good surveys of

I don't have a single book for you as that is a very broad theme, but honestly something textbook-y might be what you're looking for. Google for good surveys of American history. If you want to understand America as a world power, I would supplement a general textbook with some economic and military history. WW2 and the Cold War will be very important. A big factor in America's later dominance was the fact that so many other world powers were utterly devastated by the Second World War and could not maintain their former influence, so understanding the transformative half-century between the 1940s and 1990s will be key to answering your question. But I think you'll also be interested in the late 1800s (especially the post-Civil War period) as that is where you see some of America's industrial power really start to pick up. That's the era of major technological changes like the telegraph and railroads as well as the emergence of industrial powerhouses like Standard Oil.