Author: Daniel Immerwahr
Publisher & Date: Picador, 3 Mar 2020
Page Count: 528 pages
ISBN: 978-1250251091
Age/Reading Level: Adult/College
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Book Information
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.
Challenges & Bans
The book has received some scholarly challenges, but no apparent social/parent pushback. Critics debate the book’s definition of “empire,” it’s focus on raw power versus ideas, and it’s portrayal of U.S. motivations. Critics also question its scope and emphasis, and some find it too left-leaning.
Awards & Accolades
Named Best Book of 2019 by: Smithsonian Magazine (History), Publishers Weekly, Chicago Tribune, New York Times (Critic’s Choice), NPR (Staff Pick)
Other Awards: 2020 Ferrell Book Prize (Awarded by the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations/SHAFR for outstanding work in diplomatic history)
