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Loading... Habits of Empire: A History of American Expansionby Walter Nugent
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.  bruchu | Nov 23, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
Since its founding, the United States' declared principles of liberty and democracy have often clashed with aggressive policies of imperial expansion. In this sweeping narrative history, acclaimed scholar Walter Nugent explores this fundamental American contradiction by recounting the story of American land acquisition since 1782 and shows how this steady addition of territory instilled in the American people a habit of empire-building. From America's early expansions into Transappalachia and the Louisiana Purchase through later additions of Alaska and island protectorates in the Caribbean and Pacific, Nugent demonstrates that the history of American empire is a tale of shifting motives, as the early desire to annex land for a growing population gave way to securing strategic outposts for America's global economic and military interests. Thorough, enlightening, and well-sourced, this book explains the deep roots of American imperialism as no other has done. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)970.01History and Geography North America North America North America -1599LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (4.13)
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Wikipedia in English
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A comprehensive survey of American imperialism since the revolutionary period through to the twentieth century. "Habits of Empire" by Walter Nugent is a rare look into the motivations behind manifest destiny, the frontier thesis, and American exceptionalism.
Nugent is primarily concerned with expansionism in the nineteenth century, beginning with Jefferson's "empire for liberty" statement through until McKinley's Empire II. Much has been written about modern American imperialism so Nugent purposely excludes this period, though he includes a short chapter on contemporary imperialism at the end.
The book is especially strong in the areas of American territorial negotiations resulting from the treaties to end the revolutionary war, giving Benjamin Franklin the primary credit for the coup over both the British and the French. Jefferson's Louisiana purchase and the failed attempt to annex Canada in the War of 1812 is also well covered by Nugent. As the book approaches the Mexican war, Oregon and 54-40, Alaska, and the Spanish-American War, the source analysis gets a little thinner.
"Habits of Empire" is primarily a political and military history. Nugent uses plenty of original archival sources from the Library of Congress and most of the chronological and documentary analysis is spot on.
Though Nugent does discuss some of the underlying social, cultural, religious and racial motives behind ideologies such as Frederick Jackson Turner's Frontier Thesis, manifest destiny, American exceptionalism, the Monroe Doctrine, and the Roosevelt Corollary. I think that Nugent should have included more research on these ideologies as they form the bedrock of why American expansionism is an ideology and not simply an ephemeral policy of realpolitik.
Economics and technology are also under-explored by Nugent. One major factor for American expansionism was Jefferson's introduction of the six square mile townships. Large infrastructure investments such as the Eerie Canal or the main railway networks are also sparsely discussed. Finally, the discovery of gold in California in 1848 is omitted altogether.
With that said, for such an important and relevant topic, the book is historically significant in outlining a longstanding faith in the inevitable progress and rhetoric of spreading freedom and democracy which we hear so often whether it is JFK's New Frontier or the Bush Doctrine.
Overall, I recommend the book despite its flaws because of the importance of the subject to contemporary analysis of America's position in the world. The book is not written for an academic audience and so is therefore easy to read. (