How to Hide an Empire
America beyond its borders - an empire that hides in plain sight
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- CHF 12.00
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- CHF 12.00
Publisher Description
A revelatory history of expansion, influence and the making of American power.
Historian Daniel Immerwahr exposes a forgotten truth: the United States has always been an empire. From Puerto Rico to Guam, the Philippines to a network of global military bases, How to Hide an Empire uncovers how U.S. territories and influence extend far beyond its 50 states.
Blending archival research with witty storytelling, Immerwahr reveals the surprising ways empire has shaped American politics, culture and identity. Eye-opening and deeply relevant, this book forces readers to reconsider what it means to be “American” - and how power really works in the modern world.
‘Wry, readable and often astonishing’ New York Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historian Immerwahr argues in this substantial work that the U.S. is more than the 50 states its name references, and that, despite its identification with anti-imperialism, for more than two centuries the U.S. has been "a partitioned country, divided into two sections, with different laws applying in each" in short, a kind of empire. The second section is made up of territories, many of which were once called colonies, and which are now barely acknowledged in popular conceptions of the country: first, native lands near the "frontier" of the nascent country; then for a time Hawaii, Alaska, and the Philippines; and to this day places including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. (And, Immerwahr goes on, the U.S. engages in other kinds of empire-building, through, for example, its massive network of overseas military bases and economic globalization.) Present-day residents of territories "have no representation in Congress... cannot vote for president... rights and citizenship remain a gift from Washington," and their status as U.S. citizens is unknown by almost half of the states' population. This insightful, excellent book, with its new perspective on an element of American history that is almost totally excluded from mainstream education and knowledge, should be required reading for those on the mainland.
