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America's Foreign Policy from Its Earliest Days to the Dawn of the Twentieth Century
Author Robert Kagan argues that even in the Colonial eraAmericans relentlessly expanded their territory, in the first volume of a projected two-volume work on the subject of American imperialism. Rather ironically, this expansionism has been linked to our liberal, democratic ideology. Part of our traditional imperialism has been due to our wish to bring democracy, American style, to our poor benighted neighbors. And partly the problem has been simply that the federal government in olden days was too weak to prevent frontiersmen from pioneering on Indian territory. (Of course, states righters and constitutional patriots still would advocate for a weak central government today, but that's another matter.) Political leaders developed expansionist policies because they worried, and not without good reason, that if they did not respond to their constituents (such as farmers who wanted access to new lands), the people of theWest and South might rebel or secede. But leaving aside the unfortunate Indians, Kagan provocatively interprets the so-called Civil War or War of D.C. Aggression as the central government's "first experiment" in foreign conquest and "nation building." Kagan follows American expansion through the 19th century, as the U.S. increased its dominance in Latin America and sought to become the arbiter of the Pacific. Dangerous Nation systematically and surprisingly dismantles accepted dogmas. But we won't spoil the surprises for you by telling all about them.
Softcover, 527 pages, #300
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