How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States

By Daniel Immerwahr

Book Overview

Named one of the ten best books of the year by the Chicago Tribune
A Publishers Weekly best book of 2019 A 2019 NPR Staff Pick

"Consistently both startling and absorbing . . . Immerwahr vividly retells the early formation of the United States], the consolidation of its overseas territory, and the postwar perfection of its 'pointillist' global empire, which extends influence through a vast constellation of tiny footprints." --Harper's

A pathbreaking history of the United States' overseas possessions and the true meaning of its empire

We are familiar with maps that outline all fifty states. And we are also familiar with the idea that the United States is an "empire," exercising power around the world. But what about the actual territories--the islands, atolls, and archipelagos--this country has governed and inhabited?

In How to Hide an Empire, Daniel Immerwahr tells the fascinating story of the United States outside the United States. In crackling, fast-paced prose, he reveals forgotten episodes that cast American history in a new light. We travel to the Guano Islands, where prospectors collected one of the nineteenth century's most valuable commodities, and the Philippines, site of the most destructive event on U.S. soil. In Puerto Rico, Immerwahr shows how U.S. doctors conducted grisly experiments they would never have conducted on the mainland and charts the emergence of independence fighters who would shoot up the U.S. Congress.

In the years after World War II, Immerwahr notes, the United States moved away from colonialism. Instead, it put innovations in electronics, transportation, and culture to use, devising a new sort of influence that did not require the control of colonies. Rich with absorbing vignettes, full of surprises, and driven by an original conception of what empire and globalization mean today, How to Hide an Empire is a major and compulsively readable work of history.

Praise for How to Hide an Empire:

"A richly detailed, thoroughly researched history . . . the author engagingly depicts the nations' conquests . . . Immerwahr animates the narrative with a lively cast of characters . . . A vivid recounting of imperial America's shameful past." --Kirkus (Starred Review)

"To call this standout book a corrective would make it sound earnest and dutiful, when in fact it is wry, readable and often astonishing. Immerwahr knows that the material he presents is serious, laden with exploitation and violence, but he also knows how to tell a story, highlighting the often absurd space that opened up between expansionist ambitions and ingenuous self-regard . . . It's a testament to Immerwahr's considerable storytelling skills that I found myself riveted by his sections on Hoover's quest for standardized screw threads, wondering what might happen next." --Jennifer Szalai, New York Times

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250251095
• ISBN13: 9781250251091
• Release Date: March 2020
• Publisher: Picador USA
• Length: 528 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

American Empire 101

Prof. Immerwahr wrote this documentary on the Great American Empire from Daniel Boone. It is empire history 101 up to the present. American citizens are not aware of the American Empire status, only to find out on the Beijing Winter Athletes marching in the opening ceremony. In addition to the American Main Land team, groups from Puerto Rico, American Samoa and US Virgin Island marched on with their own flags. Professor pointed out they are under American Empire! He elaborated in much details in the Philippines, Cuba and other places that reader does not learn from American curriculum. The politicians now deviate from the American spirit and principles after taking over the British Empire after WW II. With the collapse of Soviet Union, American celebrates the triumphant in the mood of the end of history. With Trump came to the White House, he demanded government officials loyal to him not the Constitution. He put democracy into plutocracy into his own Empire. He waged trade war with China with a cold war mentality for a future war with a civilized state of four thousand years. Now America goes to second term of gerontocracy, with high China tariffs, inflation, crime rate, Covid-19 death toll, anxiety. With the deployment retreat in twenty years of American democracy from Afghanistan , known as the grave of Russian Empire and British Empire, American suffered loss of respect, prestige and dignity. Will the Great American Empire suffer the same fate as their Royal cousins?