The definitive version of the Spanish-American War as well as a dramatic account of America's emergence as a global power.

Marking the centennial of the Spanish-American War, "Empire by Default" recounts the dramatic episodes of the conflict, including Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders' charge up San Juan Hill, that served as the impetus for America's emergence as a global power. of photos.

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 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.

It has been termed an insurgency, a revolution, a guerrilla war, and a conventional war. As David J. Silbey demonstrates in this taut, compelling history, the 1899 Philippine-American War was in fact all of these. Played out over three distinct conflicts—one fought between the Spanish and the allied United States and Filipino forces; one fought between the United States and the Philippine Army of Liberation; and one fought between occupying American troops and an insurgent alliance of often divided Filipinos—the war marked America's first steps as a global power and produced a wealth of lessons learned and forgotten. In A War of Frontier and Empire, Silbey traces the rise and fall of President Emilio Aguinaldo, as Aguinaldo tries to liberate the Philippines from colonial rule only to fail, devastatingly, before a relentless American army. He tracks President McKinley's decision to commit troops and fulfill a divinely inspired injunction to "uplift and civilize" despite the protests of many Americans. Most important, Silbey provides a clear lens to view the Philippines as, in the crucible of war, it transforms itself from a territory divided by race, ethnicity, and warring clans into a cohesive nation on the path to independence.

The Mormon military experience is unique in American history. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) is the only denomination to field military units for its own support and purpose rather than national interests, an effort which began in Missouri in 1838 and lasted through the Spanish American War of 1898. From World War I onward, however, the military exceptionalism of the LDS Church faded and Mormon soldiers came to serve national interests as loyal citizens alongside their fellow Americans. The Mormon Military Experience: 1838 to the Cold War is the first book to present a historical overview of the Mormon military experience. Sherman Fleek and Robert Freeman tell this unique story of how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has experienced war and military service and of their teachings concerning participation in armed conflict. The LDS Church’s distinct relationship between religious life and military service is rooted in its adherence to the Book of Mormon and its unique doctrine based in ancient and then-modern revelations from church leaders. Religious and military exceptionalism went hand in hand during the nineteenth century, when LDS Church leaders dictated when and how members would serve in armed conflict. Mormon militiamen were often more loyal to church interests and the guidance of LDS leaders than they were to government policy, from mustering of the Mormon Battalion during the Mexican War to orchestrating the armed effort during the Utah War of 1857–1858 to serving as Civil War volunteers in the West. Similarly, they followed Church leaders’ teachings not to serve in the Civil War’s bloody campaigns in the East. While LDS leaders adapted church practices and policies to support national objectives at times, there were also occasions when Mormon militia units defied state and federal military forces, sometimes to the point of open combat. No other American denomination has done this. This is a story about changing loyalties: as the LDS Church transformed from a personalist religious movement on the edge of society to a mainstay of American religious and political life, Mormons have moved from battling the US military to serving with distinction within it.

An exploration of the ways in which ancient theories of empire can inform our understanding of present-day international relations, Enduring Empire engages in a serious discussion of empire as it relates to American foreign policy and global politics. The imperial power dynamics of ancient Athens and Rome provided fertile ground for the deliberations of many classical thinkers who wrote on the nature of empire: contemplating political sovereignty, autonomy, and citizenship as well as war, peace, and civilization in a world where political boundaries were strained and contested. The contributors to this collection prompt similar questions with their essays and promote a serious contemporary consideration of empire in light of the predominance of the United States and of the doctrine of liberal democracy. Featuring essays from some of the leading thinkers in the fields of political science, philosophy, history, and classics, Enduring Empire illustrates how lessons gleaned from the Athenian and Roman empires can help us to understand the imperial trajectory of global politics today.

The untold story of how FDR did the unthinkable to save the American economy.