The Empire Books

"To all appearances," wrote Richard Drinnon, "it all began innocently enough with a first victim" (Indian-Hating 35). Indeed, in Drinnon's 'Facing West: The Metaphysics of Indian-Hating and Empire-Building,'those first victims finally have the chance to tell their story through the records of their conquerors. From John Endicott's war on the Niantics and Pequots, to the horrors of the My Lai massacre, Drinnon illustrates, with passion, power and unrelenting wit, how Indian-hating in the Americas became a national pastime, and how that same hate was turned against the native populations of the Phillipines and Southeast Asia. A tremendous feat of scholarship that should not be missed.

Prompted to write about the lynching - after watching "Birth of a Nation" to be perfectly honest, I did not know where to turn - so, logically, I searched the stacks at the library. An interesting troika of books almost seemed to jump into my hands - metaphorically, of course. The link is the Imperial project. The books: (1) Lynching in America: A History in Documents edited by Christopher Waldrep; (2) Positively No Filipinos Allowed: Building Communities and Discourse edited by Antonio T. Tiongson, Jr., Edgardo V. Gutierrez, and Ricardo V. Gutierrez; finally, (3) Richard Drinnon's Facing West: The Metaphysics of Indian-Hating and Empire-Building [this one actually recommended]. Dealing with the confluence of hate on the three groups that have been the target of so much of it: Indians, African-Americans, and Filipinos are the loci of this examination.

Christopher Waldrep's edited work Lynching in America: A History in Documents is compilation of bits and pieces from source documents such as: articles from newspapers and magazines, parts of novels, transcripts of court decisions as well as congressional testimonies are the basis for the "documents" in the latter part of the title. On the trail to "discover" the origins, development, and resilience of the lynching phenomenon, this thought-provoking collection is less "history" but arguably more narrative. In this volume, Waldrep looks at various aspects such as the relationship of lynching to violence perpetuated outside the rule of law and examines in almost footnote form how these texts are mobilized by advocated of conflicting agendas. This collection of source documents is an attempt, I would argue, to bring new life, new meaning to the discourse of lynching. It starts at the very beginning - as in where did the word come from? There is no definitive and easy explanation forthcoming. The "power of the word" is arguably "a rhetorical dagger ... deployed by a host of actors in a variety of circumstances" (Waldrep xvi, xvii). So lynching then starts out the narrative - it began to grow into a different project; lynching is part of the bigger issue of discipline.

The "archive" shows that lynching is not a single dimension phenomenon - but that is certainly not a new argument - but its presentation here of the various perceptions and semantic plays on the word from the 18th to the 20th century certainly proves insightful. Waldrep explores (or uncovers) what seem to be mistaken notions only a select few slaves were lynched - when in fact it was seen as the supreme right of slave owners. In reality, several slaves were lynched - no matter how you semantically play it. Waldrep presents documents that show lynching to be beyond just a southern racial phenomenon. In this volume, Waldrep shows that the downturn of the lynching phenomenon is the confluence of "private enterprise--journalism--exposing lynching to national audiences" (Waldrep xix). What marks this volume as a deviation from conventional thinking about lynching is that instead of looking at the simplistic concept of "spectacle killings" of southern blacks lynching happened, Waldrep presents, in several venues and manifestations, persecuted diverse people, and eventually into "high-tech" with the "lynching" of Clarence Thomas (Waldrep 249). Even if the end result was not achieved - as in to come up with a definitive history and description, its complexity; I am sure Waldrep would argue, called for the very investigation he undertook. How does this tie in with Filipinos to African American and Indians who were conspicuous by their absence?

Positively No Filipinos Allowed: Building Communities and Discourse is a multi-disciplinary collection of unique writings that, of course, examines the ways in which the colonial history of the Philippines has fashioned Filipino-American character, society, and community development - this is the glue - the tie that binds. The essay that interests us for this examination is Nerissa Balce's "Filipino Bodies, Lynching, and the Language of Empire" since in this essay we started out by looking at lynching.

Balce explores the unique criticism leveled at African Americans in the 1900s by both the Filipino as well as the African American press for the commonality of their experience, "Why does the American Negro come from America to fight us when we are much friend to him, and me all the same as you. Why don't you fight those people in America that burn Negroes that made a beast of you that took the child from its mother's side and sold it?" (Quoted from a letter to the Indianapolis Freeman of 11 May 1900 - from soldier William Simms who as asked by a Filipino child)(Balce in Tiongson et al. 56-57).

Harkening to a shared sense of primitivism that, in so many words, "authorized" an "othering" that steeped in "civilizing missions" and "benevolent assimilations" continued a tradition of hate and condescension that began with slavery and the Indian wars at the start of the 17th century, continued concurrently into the Indian issue, and as far as this writing is concerned with ending at the Philippines. Balce recounts yet another story, this time from the Wisconsin Weekly Advocate of 17 May 1900, "cursed them [Filipinos] as damned niggers, steal [from] and ravish them, rob them on the street of their small change, take from the fruit vendors whatever suited their fancy, and kick the poor unfortunate if he complains, desecrate their church property, and after fighting began, looted everything in sight, burning, robbing graves..." (Balce 57-58). Balce writes that this violence perpetuated by African Americans is called to question by Filipinos. This is an epiphany of sorts and at this moment of U.S. Empire is also the origin of an African American anti-imperialist paradigm that recognizes the connection in the violence meted out to Native Americans, African Americans, and colonized peoples such as Filipinos.

Balce also links the narrative of the tactics used on the Filipinos as a progression of the same kinds of violence meted out previously to the Indians, "The allusion to the "Indian wars" recalls Amy Kaplan's idea that wars "continue each other" through cyclic discourse that generate symbolic meanings which transpose and reinterpret earlier wars. Like the U.S. frontier, the Philippines would become a conquered territory for the Union" (Balce 52). Genocide is not just the mask but almost the necessary tool to bring civilization - fighting means resisting, and resisting is futile.

Richard Drinnon's Facing West: The Metaphysics of Indian Hating and Empire Building' (1980), takes us to the next level of understanding. Facing the West is a volume of American history in which he records a string of consecutive genocides dealt by white settlers against peoples of color (the "blackening" if you will) on the premise that they are "savages" in need to civilizing. Drinnon starts with the genocide of the Pequods and continues on through to the Vietnam War. Along the way, the "continuation of violence" and the "recycling of images and discourses" lands squarely in the Philippines - with ironic, disastrous, and hypocritical results. This honest take is an uplifting trajectory off the beaten path from the dominant discourses that marshal the worst and most contradictory of sentiments - `progress'.

The chapter in Drinnon that interests us is "Chapters XXI - The Strenuous Life Abroad: "Marked Severities" in the Philippines." In this chapter Drinnon alters our understanding of the debates taking place at a time of empire joining it with the lynching and violence on the mainland (Drinnon 307, Waldrep 215, and Balce 52-58). So, what "authorized" such violence against the Filipinos? "What then was the debate about? It was about whether the U.S. Empire should be hemispheric or global, and secondarily about the nature of the constitution; did that document follow the flag? On this less important issue, Senator Francis G. Newlands of Nevada put the issue succinctly on February 20, 1900: "The difference between the imperialists and the anti-imperialists... is that the imperialists wish to expand out territory and to contract our Constitution. The anti-imperialists are opposed to any expansion of territory which, as a matter of necessity, arising from the ignorance and inferiority of the people occupying it, makes free constitutional government impracticable or undesirable (Congressional Record, XXXIII, 1996)" (Drinnon 308). With the recycling of the "savage" theme, the Philippines is seen as a burden - a White Man's burden - in fact, "no better than Indians" (Drinnon 310-311). The dead in Santa Ana look jarringly similar to the dead at Wounded Knee (Drinnon 330-331). Marking for future reference that it might be even benign to say that the more things changed the more they stayed the same - when in fact, the past informed, authorized, and justified the present and maybe even the future.

As a shared burden, U.S. imperial expansion meant an increase of racial violence against emancipated blacks and a brutal war of colonization against Filipinos who had barely ended their war with Spain" (Balce 58). On the "Other" is set loose the "benevolence" of tough love and the U.S. "civilizing mission" that leaves only carnage in its wake. The "carnage" of lynching that (according to Waldrep) is constantly changing and the resilience of which is still being debated.

Miguel Llora

Like Melvyn Leffler, Zubok believes that Soviet decision making was constrained by ideology and personality. Zubok writes that ideology formed the basis for Stalins decisions regarding Germany. Stalin thought that his proposals for a neutral Germany and socialism in Eastern Germany would be enough for the Germans to flock to the Soviet cause. When this did not proved out to be true, Stalin militarized Eastern Europe for fear of a Western Germany with Western backing. Khruschev did not want to end the Cold War because he thought that Communism would eventually triumph and that he force the West to back down through the fear of nuclear war. Brezhnev implented detente because he feared war, but when he became ill, hard liners took over decision making and invaded Afghanistan. Gorbachev abandoned hardline Communist ideology and thought that a type of European Social Democracy would take over Eastern and this led to the Soviets leaving Eastern Europe in 1989. Hopefully Zubok along with Leffler and Tony Judt will get rid of the myth that Reagans's arm build up and hardline ideology was responsible for ending the Cold War.

This is an excellent overview of Soviet foreign policy during the Cold War. Judicious and fair, and drawing on much new information from the archives, one gets a sense that this will be the definitive work for some time. The only criticism I have is that I wish the author had dealt with the Sino-Soviet split in more depth. It is here, but only episodically brought in to the narrative. But all and all a great book and a fine read.

Athens had already been bled white by the Archidamian war; it had lost its fleet and the flower of its youth in the Sicilian expedition. Here, Sparta rejoins the conflict as a full-blooded belligerent, and Persia weighs in as a sponsor. For all that, Athens still puts up a hell of a fight, scratching together a new fleet and defending its Aegean and Black Sea possessions with vitality and imagination. Yet, like Napoleon's armies after the Russian winter, a brilliant victory only defers the outcome, whereas it will only take one serious defeat for the whole war effort to collapse. At length, this defeat arrives when the Spartans get serious about naval tactics and recall Lysander to administer the decisive blow. Another great character in this saga, the Athenian exile Alcabiades, reappears, first as a Spartan advisor, then as a friend to the Persian King, then back to Athens as the prodigal son. Not until Talleyrand will one encounter such a serial turncoat.

The Peloponnesian War, along with the myriad feuds that latched on to the central conflict between Sparta and Athens in the latter half of the fifth century BCE, can be an exhausting subject. The civil and international politics involved in fostering and perpetuating the war rival even today's most complex conflicts.

In this, The fourth and final installment of Kagan's history of the Peloponnesian War. Kagan skillfully rounds out the set and the war itself. These books come in and out of circulation, so best to get ahold of them while they're available. Again, Kagan's work is superb

For the historian, or avid history buff (however you might self-identify), these works are a necessary addition to your library. The more casual reader might, however, consider purchasing Kagan's abridged work entitled simply "The Peloponnesian War." It includes the main thrust of the narrative, but with markedly less analysis of the political motivations included in these volumes.

An extraordinary book. This slice of 19th Century history, remarkable in its own right, is background to much of the strife in today's geopolitical news. My benchmarks for such things being David Fromkin's wonderful A Peace to End All Peace, and Karl Meyer's Tournament of Shadows, plus the works of Peter Hopkirk, I can safely say Taylor surpasses them all in rendering complex events, timelines, and relationships with clarity and immediacy. Fever and Thirst fills out an extra perspective on the machinations at the fringes of the Great Game, and serves up a hugely erudite portrait of fractious Christian attempts at empire-building in the Middle East circa 1840, mischief which remains at the heart of so much woe in that region. Taylor is not afraid occasionally to render sophisticated judgments on everything from the missionary's apolitical disengagement to the quality of the local wine (which I'll remember to forego should the occasion arise). It's reassuring that the author has opinions on his topic, and cares to express them. Likewise, that he can find some wry humor in such a tale of Romantic - even obsessive - zeal, despite the horrendous human cost he has catalogued. Fascinating detail and broad learning underpin the superbly sustained narrative (including some finer points of Christian theology, not to mention the history of the Ottoman Empire, about which it's hard to imagine many Westerner knowing a useful amount these days), and a controlled dramatic tone pushes the character-driven story forward. Fever and Thirst is particularly good at portraying the endless political chaos in the soul of the regions then nominally under Turkish domination, characterized by ever-shifting alliances, greed and betrayal. Artfully written and thoroughly enjoyable, the book offers lessons we may be thankful for, especially those that resonate with our contemporary experience, in particular the hubris, ignorance and fantasy at the heart of our misbegotten role as Crusaders still. Highly recommended.

Before I read this book I knew little about this part of the world and nothing about the 19th-century missionary movement. The author writes with grace and confidence and has a reasssuring command of his subject. The book makes accessible a particularly complicated political arena and the motivations -- so foreign to a 21st-century reader -- of a passionate individual determined, at all costs, to bring Protestantism (and medical help) to the Christians of Kurdistan. Highly recommended.

Why is America the sole superpower in the world today? Sidney Lens' book helps the reader answer this question, by looking at the history of the United States from the colonial era through the Cold War and Vietnam.

At the heart of U.S. foreign policy lays a desire for American supremacy over the world-this much is painfully clear today in light of the Iraq war. But Lens traces this thread back to the founding of America, taking a critical look at the territorial expansion of the U.S. on native lands, the occupation of Cuba and the Philippines, the "open door" economic policy in Asia and the war profiteering during both world wars.

Whether it's the Spanish-American war or the Cold War, readers can see many reflections of the past in the actions of governments today. "The Forging of the American Empire" is no mere historical narrative, it's a chronicle written so that we can understand what drives the present era of wars and globalization.

Lens' radical, materialist approach to the history of the United States is refreshing, cogent and comprehensive. It does an excellent job explaining foreign policy, but this leaves little room for domestic affairs and opposition to U.S. imperialism. I recommend checking out Howard Zinn's book alongside this one, for anyone who really wants to understand why America goes to war or bullies weaker nations.

(This is a reprint of the classic Vietnam War-era text that Lens wrote to help guide his fellow antiwar activists in a previous generation. Howard Zinn's introduction updates the book through 2003.)

For all those folks who loved Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States, this is a great companion piece. Written toward the end of the Vietnam War, It is nothing short of the most comprehensive history of America's adventure's abroad ever written, starting with the conquest of the continent and moving on to the birth of the United States as a world power, and finishing off with the Cold War and the US entry in Vietnam. Along the way it debunks a lot of myths. I think that any activists who is trying to figure out why the U.S. does what it does overseas can profitably start with Lens.

For decades now books and articles have theorized on british industrial decline (or "relative decline"). Culprits have been pointed: unions, poor management, nationalization, the education system and more. Geoffrey owen names all them but with the insight of distance he presentes a more balanced view. Failure to enter the EEC with consequent focus on the commonwealth and government mismanagement of nationalized industries and constant bail out of lame ducks drove to a loss of competitiveness on the world stage with consequent market loss. The entrance to the common market in 1973 and the thatcher reforms of the eighties forced firms to adapt and become international players on a globalized economy with the success we today now. But what makes this book stand out most is its analysis of industry by industry, ilustrated with real stories of dozens of firms, wich gives a vivid picture tha lacks so much in other texts. A good book, lucid, concise, recomended.

This excellent, thorough and generally very readable study of Britain's manufacturing industry since World War II well exceeded my expectations of it on first picking up the book at the library. This book attempts to analyse the reasons for the failures and successes of a variety of industries, and puts all the case studies in a historical context which is meticulously researched. Given the subject matter, the author could easily have opted to grind the axe for one political ideology over another, but refrains from doing so, which I found refreshing. All-in-all I came away from reading this book with a much clearer understanding of why manufacturing in Britain has fared as it has since 1945. This book is impressive, and I recommend it highly.

This is an enjoyable read, light and yet very interesting. Its strength is the way it weaves together history and legend, connecting together many of the facts, stories, and ideas of Judaism, Persia, Greece, and Rome, setting up a clear vision of how the Middle Eastern world became what it was when Jesus was born. Its weakness is that it is too short, and necessarily skips over a great deal. But there are plenty of dry academic tomes to fill in the gaps.

Dr. Cort writes with wit and grace and this excellent resource gives one the sense they are getting an insider's view.

Highly Recommended!

Rev Dr Michael Ellner
NYC

I found this biographical dictionary convenient to use. It provides the reader with a rich cultural overview of the ancient world.
The entries are organized for quick, concise reference.
The well developed chronology was useful.

From Polis To Empire: The Ancient World c. 800 B.C. - A.D. 500 is a dictionary of biographies featuring notable and influential figures of the ancient world. From Alexander the Great to Zoroaster, and including countless lesser-known rulers, mathematicians, historians, and more, From Polis to Empire, deftly edited by Andrew Traver (Assistant Professor of Ancient and Medieval History, Southeastern Louisiana University), not only presents the lives of history's spokespersons but through them, a snapshot of life in the ancient world. An excellent, scholarly reference highly recommended for academic and community library collections, From Polis To Empire is also fascinating for the non-specialist general reader with an interest in antiquity to simply browse through.

One could readily effuse a string of encomia to describe the erudition and insightfullness of the author, but what makes the book come alive is that Dr. Wilson is never too shy to express his opinion. Hamilton is an 'evil genius,' JFK an 'incompetent,' Wilson an 'hypocrite,' and Teddy Roosevelt a 'boob.' Maybe such epithetical remarks are harsh - I do not believe so - but they always seem to be correct and are often amusing. I cannot say that I agreed with all of the author's opinions but I always had the impression that his opinions were well reasoned.

The book, being a collection of essays spanning decades, covers a number of topics and persons acting and is an excellent overview of Southern Conservative though regardless of the reader's own political bent. Perhaps the best praise is that I have learned much in an area where I would consider myself well-read.

~From Union to Empire: Essays in the Jeffersonian Tradition~ is an anthology of essays and writings by historian Clyde Wilson. As Joseph Stromberg writes in the introduction, "Dr. Clyde Wilson is a Christian, a Southerner, an American, an historian and a conservative. For over three decades he has worked on the definitive edition of the Papers of John C. Calhoun, has written on Calhoun and published a collection of Calhoun's most important writings." Wilson is a luminary figure amongst southern conservatives in my humble opinion, and yet modest about his own accomplishments. He has also written a splendid biographical history of General James Johnston Pettigrew and assembled an anthology of essays in tribute to the late Mel Bradford. As Stromberg opines, "His writings-published in Modern Age, Chronicles, Telos, and many other forums-shows Professor Wilson off as the kind of conservative who is a stalwart defender of federalism and republicanism, and the liberties associated with them. Such conservatives are few and far between these days."

For most of American history, the old Jeffersonian Democrats, sometimes referred to as Southern conservatives, were the most plentiful and common American type and now they are largely forgotten. The prescriptive wisdom of the old Jeffersonian Republicans lives on and is brilliantly encapsulated in the writings of Clyde Wilson. From his easy-to-read historical exposition of southern conservative statesmen to his stalwart defense of states' rights, Wilson offers a refreshing bit of conservative sobriety with this enlightening collection of essays accumulated over the years. Wilson defends Jefferson and spells out just why so many people from the Right and the Left hate Jefferson, and are committed to tarnishing and maligning his historical legacy. My favorite essays are those recollecting the legacy and contributions of the Old Republicans - James Monroe, George Mason, John Taylor of Caroline, John Randolph of Roanoke, and Nathaniel Macon. The Old Republicans were in fact more Jeffersonian than Jefferson himself as Wilson expounds upon the Tertium Quids with amazing clarity. Like Mel Bradford, Wilson is appreciative of the rich republican legacy and the Constitution, but keen to admit the prescriptive wisdom of the Anti-Federalists in light of history. The Constitution in our time has been thoroughly subverted and rendered a dead letter by "construction."

Wilson is no mere nostalgic revisionist and his realism compels him to admit that lately us Jeffersonian Republicans have been on the losing side of American history. A free republic requires a self-reliant, resourceful, resiliant and productive populace not apt to look to the state for its sustenance and financial provision. In our time, dependency on the paternalistic state is at an all-time high and it is apparently what many people want. Nonetheless, Wilson gives southern conservatives a reason to hold their head up high as he and other torchbearers continue to kindle the flame to pass on to a new generation of conservatives. The Roman statesmen Cicero avowed, "Long before our time the customs of our ancestors molded admirable men, in turn these men upheld the ways and institutions of their forebears. Our age, however, inherited the Republic as if it were some beautiful painting of bygone ages, its colors already fading through great antiquity; and not only has our time neglected to freshen the colors of the picture, but we have failed to preserve its forms and outlines." It is through the Jeffersonian tradition and the legacy of southern conservatives that we may find the brilliant colors and hues to refresh the colors of our the picture and by prudent understanding of history we can restore those forms and outlines of our fragile republic. Perhaps with perseverance, we can one day effectuate Jefferson's vision of an empire of liberty and restoration of the republic. Wilson is a bold visionary and though realistic about political realities now, he is not possessed of a spirit of resignation and defeatism. This distinguished southern gentleman has left a legacy of scholarship that will be disseminated for years to come. With his Calhoun scholarship, he bequeaths to posterity some potent tools for republican restoration.

In summation, Wilson's accumulated scholarship invigorates the Jeffersonian tradition, and gives us southern conservatives a reason to be emboldened about our political prospects despite the formidable odds. At the very least we have a venerable republican tradition and able torchbearers like Dr. Clyde Wilson to bequeath the flame of liberty to future generations, which should give us hope of future restoration of the republic. As a southern conservative, I have been honored to make Dr. Wilson's acquaintance and hear his lectures.

This book lets you in on the dealings of Tecumseh with more details. The records of the decisions of the military commanding officers are astounding. As I was reading the events I wanted to kick somebody for getting so many people killed.

This book isn't as strong as some of Eckert's others, but as a part of his series, (and for a book that was previously out of print) I'd strongly recommend it.

I had read Frontiersmen, Tecumseh and Dark and Bloody River, and preferred them easily to this book, but still enjoyed it, and have re-read it many times.