Since the end of the Cold War, so-called experts have been predicting the eclipse of America's "special relationship" with Britain. But as events have shown, especially in the wake of 9/11, the political and cultural ties between America and Britain have strengthened. This book examines the dynamics of this relationship and its many cultural manifestations--the James Bond series, PBS' "Brit Kitsch," Rudyard Kipling--and explains why it persists. Contrarian, essayist and polemicist Christopher Hitchens note that while the relationship is usually presented as a matter of tradition, manners, and shared culture, sanctified by wartime alliance, the special ingredient is an empire, transmitted from an ancien regime that has tried to preserve and renew itself thereby. England has attempted to play Greece to the American Rome. Still, ironically having encouraged the United States to become an equal partner in the business of empire, Britain found itself supplanted.--From publisher description.