Is the United States the greatest nation on earth? Most decidedly, that is the national meme, the national consensus and the line that is repeated nationally, daily, to everyone who is willing to listen. It is true, the United States is the greatest nation on earth. It has the largest economy, at about 16 trillion dollars, it has 11 aircraft carriers and one of the most powerful militaries in the world. The narrative is to be believed; however, it is not clear that there is no nation that considers itself less than the greatest on earth. Smaller nations know better than to pick fights with other nations that may have more capacity to fight wars and do other things. This volume provides an external perspective of the United States, garnered from living in the United States and considering several aspects of life in the country. The volume points out that there are areas where the United States may not be as great as it supposes. It examines the military, economic and social aspects of the United States, among other things, and concludes that the United States' capacities are impressive but do not make it the exclusively greatest nation on earth: even Tuvalu, Monaco and Palau are great nations....