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How to Hide An Empire

a History of the Greater United States
May 14, 2020IndyPL_SteveB rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
A very important and absorbing book about some of the American history we were never told about in school. It is quite likely that our teachers and professors didn’t know much of it either. In spite of the fact that we Americans have generally thought of ourselves anti-imperialist, there has always been an American empire. The United States rapidly expanded from the 13 original colonies westward to the Pacific Ocean, creating Territories which eventually became states. The later expansion off the North American continent rested on very different grounds – guano. Guano is bird and bat poop, a rich source of nitrogen. Most crops require a lot of nitrogen in the soil to grow well. As American agriculture grew to supply the rapid increase in population, North American soils were wearing out. Small unclaimed (or weakly defended) islands, previously thought to be distant, worthless chunks of land, were suddenly seen as poop-gold mines. By 1898, American leaders had no compulsion about aspiring to the level of economic colonialism practiced earlier by the Spanish, English, French, and Dutch. The Spanish-American War began as a colonial revolution against Spanish rule; but with the enthusiastic support of politician Teddy Roosevelt and some other expansionists, it turned into what might be called “The War of American Imperialism.” I could go on a long time about all of the new insights I received from this book. The author goes into detail on Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and Saipan. This is a completely different history of the United States than you are likely to have read before. There are dozens of stories here you have probably never heard about before. If you have blindly accepted teachers ignoring American racism, you will have some big surprises, although the author also praises American ingenuity where appropriate. I would call this book ESSENTIAL to an understanding of America’s place in the world, historically and today. Do yourself a favor and elevate your knowledge.