How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States

What a great book! I am learning so much and seriously I can't put it down. Lying on the couch reading all this fascinating info is such a treat. The author is a great writer. He has made the history of US imperialism, and then the decline of imperialism and colonialism, not just interesting but readable and understandable for the average reader who may or may not have a good knowledge of US history. Yet it's not dumbed down either. There's nothing dry about this book. In many ways he relates this history to American life and evolution, then and now. For example, he tells us how much the explosion in plastics manufacturing and use was a result of needed supplies during WW2. I wish all writers were this talented.

I'm a professor at the University of California San Diego and I'm assigning this for a graduate class. No other book out there has the level of breadth on the history of US imperialism that this work provides. Even though it packs 400 pages of text (which might seem like a turnoff for non-academic readers), "How to Hide an Empire" is highly readable given Immerwhar's skills as a writer. Also, its length is part of what makes it awesome because it gives it the right amount of detail and scope. I could not disagree more with the person who gave this book one star. Take it from me: I've taught hundreds of college students who graduate among the best in their high school classes and they know close to nothing about the history of US settler colonialism, overseas imperialism, or US interventionism around the world. If you give University of California college students a quiz on where the US' overseas territories are, most who take it will fail (trust me, I've done it). And this is not their fault. Instead, it's a product of the US education system that fails to give students a nuanced and geographically comprehensive understanding of the oversized effect that their country has around our planet. Alleging that US imperialism in its long evolution (which this book deciphers with poignancy) has had no bearing on the destinies of its once conquered populations is as fallacious as saying that the US is to blame for every single thing that happens in Native American communities, or in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, etc. Not everything that happens in these locations and among these populations is directly connected to US expansionism, but a great deal is. A case in point is Puerto Rico's current fiscal and economic crisis. The island's political class share part of the blame for Puerto Rico's present rut. A lot of it is also due to unnatural (i.e. "natural" but human-exacerbated) disasters such as Hurricane María. However, there is no denying that the evolution of Puerto Rico's territorial status has generated a host of adverse economic conditions that US states (including an island state such as Hawaii) do not have to contend with. An association with the US has undoubtedly raised the floor of material conditions in these places, but it has also imposed an unjust glass ceiling that most people around the US either do not know about or continue to ignore. To add to those unfair economic limitations, there are political injustices regarding the lack of representation in Congress, and in the case of Am. Samoa, their lack of US citizenship. The fact that the populations in the overseas territories can't make up their mind about what status they prefer is: a) understandable given the way they have been mistreated by the US government, and b) irrelevant because what really matters is what Congress decides to do with the US' far-flung colonies, and there is no indication that Congress wants to either fully annex them or let them go because neither would be convenient to the 50 states and the political parties that run them. Instead, the status quo of modern colonial indeterminacy is what works best for the most potent political and economic groups in the US mainland. Would This book is about much more than that though. It's also a history of how and why the United States got to control so much of what happens around the world without creating additional formal colonies like the "territories" that exist in this legal limbo. Part of its goal is to show how precisely how US imperialism has been made to be more cost-effective and also more invisible. Read Immerwhar's book, and don't listen to the apologists of US imperialism which is still an active force that contradicts the US' professed values and that needs to be actively dismantled. Their attempts at discrediting this important reflect a denialism of the US' imperial realities that has endured throughout the history that this book summarizes. "How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States" is a great starting point for making the US public aware of the US' contradictions as an "empire of liberty" (a phrase once used by Thomas Jefferson to describe the US as it expanded westward beyond the original 13 colonies). It is also a necessary update to other books on this topic that are already out there, and it is likely to hold the reader's attention more given its crafty narrative prose and structure

Professor Daniel Immerwahr has written a book that seeks to address Americans’ critical lack of knowledge of the country’s overseas territories and military installations, a lack is not surprising since many college students seem severely lacking in knowledge of their own home states, much less distant places. Immerwahr has said that the problem is not geographical, but if a study he cites that indicates that the people who are under thirty are less likely than older respondents to know that Puerto Ricans are American citizens is truly representative, the decline of map reading skills may well be associated with the rise of GPS devices and smart phones, coupled with the tendency to see distances in term of the time it takes to get somewhere rather than miles, may be a strong contributor to the problem. (Immerwahr does not seem to fault teachers and his fellow professors who are including decreasing amounts of content relating to the United States’ own colonial roots in their courses without replacing it with information about the territories, let alone military bases abroad.) Immerwahr recounts the United States’ acquisition of territories and military bases largely through claim, purchase, and war. He devotes a particularly large amount of text to describing, military operations associated with acquiring and maintaining colonies and employing military bases. While this is important, at times the detail of the descriptions impedes the flow of the narrative and detracts from the subject. A large section on the effects on colonies of post-World War II developments in transportation, communication, and technological standardization seems more relevant to the empires of such colonial powers as Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands, which saw their colonies as being of economic value, than to the United States, which Immerwahr indicates saw its territories as more of a burden than an opportunity, with, perhaps, the exception of the guano islands, which were largely abandoned when guano was no longer needed for American agriculture. One difficulty with the book is its major focus on the Puerto Rico, the territory about which Americans probably know the most, at the expense of the Pacific territories such as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, of which many are probably unaware. The author might also have devoted more attention to the currently held territories than he does to the former territory of the Philippines. Immerwahr’s inclusion of U. S. military bases abroad as part of the United State “empire,” will surprise many, but he makes an excellent argument for their inclusion. More information about the justification for the approximately 800 foreign bases, some of which are very close together, and the means by which the U. S. government has convinced countries to allow it to station its troops on their soil might also have been helpful in understanding the large United States footprint on the world. One cannot criticize the author for omitting something that he did not intend to include in the first place, but if there is another edition of How to Hide and Empire, it might be appropriate to include at least an appendix about Native American communities at least two of which have, by treaty, rights to have non-voting members of the House of Representatives in the same way that the U. S. territories do. Several of these communities also have reservations that are self-governing and often exempt from state laws regarding taxes and/or gaming; one reservation (the Akwesasne in Northern New York) straddles the U.S.-Canadian border, creating concerns about cross-border transportation of both people and goods (especially cigarettes, but also including drugs and alcohol) for both countries. This work has the potential to be an important book, but many potential readers will find its length daunting (501 pages; 399 pages of text). An easily condensed version would make excellent supplemental reading for classes in such disciplines as United States History, International Relations, Political Science and Constitutional Law. A shorter version might also attract a larger readership among the general public, which the book deserves. The title is highly recommended Those whose interest in the territories is piqued by How to Hide an Empire might want to read The Not- Quite States of America by Doug Mack, an account of life in the U. S. territories in the twenty-first century, and visit the website www.equalrightsnow.org, which seeks to inform the public about the territories and advocate for the rights of the approximately four million people who live in them.

This should be required reading in High School I was embarrassed by how little I knew about US imperialism. Enjoy!

Very engaging history of how the U.S. acquired all of it's territories and surprisingly how a lot of peoples in far off places in this world are actually American citizens, something I never knew or expected; these as the result of wars, purchases and including certain acts of Congress. Lots of references and notes and though some interpretations of this book can lean left or right, generally this was not just a bashing of the U.S. like some notable books on the Empires' history, but also a kind of praise for all of the innovations that we enjoy today that were the direct result of many overseas wars and atrocities. Considering just the one subject, language, or popular culture even. Any honest view of history and the definition of empire would have to admit to the truth of the conclusions of the author. From my reading, I would liken this book to an abridged "Tragedy and Hope" by Carroll Quigley. The reading was very easy, due to the excellent style of writing and fast pace of the book. The number of pages should not be a problem for most since almost 100 pages, about 20% is dedicated to notes and references. Just for the educational value, I would recommend this book. Because the "rabbit hole" is deep, I would recommend it twice. :-)

This is an excellent and much-needed book. My wife is from Puerto Rico, and we currently live there. I was broadly familiar with the Insular Cases and the history of unincorporated territories. However, this book brings that together with the far broader history of all the other territories under US control over many years. It does so in a manner that is engaging with concise historical context. Prof. Immerwahr presents a compelling story with the right level of detail and a good pace of action that weaves the political, military, economic, and social realities of how the US has evolved its global footprint over the centuries. It is not part of US history that is taught in schools, but it should be.

Must read for US history buffs. So much unknown and untaught details about the US revealed in this book. The hidden wars. How the US won WW2. The number of bases the US has around the globe. The US is an empire in every sense of the word.

This is an accessible, entertaining and very informative book with some really wild revelations and connections. I consider myself pretty well read in US history in particular and this book still surprised me. I admit, I was ignorant of many of the stories told here (ex: medical experimentation in Puerto Rico; city planning gone wild in the Philippines; labor law loopholes in Saipan). Possibly because the whole view of American history as being one of empire has been obscured, many historical figures involved with it are obscured as well, even if they became more famous in other contexts. For instance Herbert Hoover comes off pretty well here, all things considered. Immerwahl is also more positive on Douglas MacArthur than most other historians I've read. MacArthur is normally profiled as the sometimes ineffectual diva-like egomaniac that he transparently was, but in the context of US Empire and its stewardship of the Philippines, he seems like a real mensch because he was seemingly the only American of influence who gave a damn about the Philippines at all. I hope that lots of young people read this book. This is a history that I'd generally categorize as Left, but I think it's accessible enough that it could introduce a lot of readers to these concepts without any perceived (reactionary) stigma as "a Leftist history book."

I can't praise this book highly enough. As well as being well-researched and well-written, it is also very timely. The 'empire' takes various forms and I defy any American not to find out some things about their country they never knew. The first part of the book is very interesting, but it is the chapters relating to the period after World War Two that are the most fascinating. In Trump-world, where he talks about seizing Greenland and the Panama Canal, what Immerwahr has to say is so pertinent.

Engrossing read.

The book's spine was damaged

A very good book. Another way of looking at the evolution of the USA, a lot of it unknown to most. By taking the reader to the moon (an American conquest) and to the current era of brawl politics (we have consensus, Barack Obama was born in Hawaii), the author puts history in the context of contemporary sociology - there is no better purpose for a history book.

Very well written and very insightful