Kuala Lampur, Aug. 23 -- The great gamble of the late twentieth century-that globalisation would deliver prosperity without undermining national cohesion-has come undone.

The triumphant surge of interconnected trade and finance that began in the 1990s now lies entangled in a world scarred by conflict, populism, and resurgent economic nationalism.

David J. Lynch's The World's Worst Bet captures this drama with a trenchant, fast-paced narrative of how the United States wagered on globalisation, only to discover that its returns were more volatile and more costly than anyone had anticipated.

For a time, the bet looked unassailable. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), China's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), an...