How to Hide an Empire

Oct 5, 2024 6:52 PM

Author:Daniel Immerwahr

'Wry, readable and often astonishing... Aprovocative and absorbing history of the United States' New York Times

The United States denies having dreams of empire.

We know America has spread its money, language and culture across the world, but we still think of it as a contained territory, framed by Canada above, Mexico below, and oceans either side. Nothing could be further from the truth.

This is the story of the United States outside the United States – from nineteenth-century conquests like Alaska and Puerto Rico to the catalogue of islands, archipelagos and military bases dotted around the globe. Full of surprises and previously forgotten episodes, this fascinating book casts America’s history, and its present, in a revealing new light.

Reviews

[A] smashing new book… fascinating

—— Tim Stanley , Daily Telegraph

Lively and fascinating … [Immerwahr] is incapable of writing a dull page, and he has a real gift for making striking and unusual connections

—— Noel Malcolm , Sunday Telegraph

To call this standout book a corrective would make it sound earnest and dutiful, when in fact it is wry, readable and often astonishing … It’s a testament to Immerwahr’s considerable storytelling skills that I found myself riveted by his sections on Hoover’s quest for standardized screw threads, wondering what might happen next. But beyond its collection of anecdotes and arcana, this humane book offers something bigger and more profound. How to Hide an Empire nimbly combines breadth and sweep with fine-grained attention to detail. The result is a provocative and absorbing history of the United States — ‘not as it appears in its fantasies, but as it actually is.’

—— New York Times

There are many histories of American expansionism. How to Hide an Empire renders them all obsolete. It is brilliantly conceived, utterly original, and immensely entertaining - simultaneously vivid, sardonic and deadly serious.

—— Andrew J. Bacevich, author of Twilight of the American Century

This book changes our understanding of the fundamental character of the United States as a presence in world history. By focusing on the processes by which Americans acquired, controlled, and were affected by territory, Daniel Immerwahr shows that the United States was not just another “empire,” but was a highly distinctive one the dimensions of which have been largely ignored.

—— David A. Hollinger, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Protestants Abroad

How to Hide an Empire is a breakthrough, for both Daniel Immerwahr and our collective understanding of America’s role in the world. His narrative of the rise of our colonial empire outside North America, and then our surprising pivot from colonization to globalization after World War II, is enthralling in the telling -- and troubling for anyone pondering our nation’s past and future. The result is a book for citizens and scholars alike.

—— Samuel Moyn, professor of law and history at Yale University

A deft disquisition on America, and America in the world, with a raconteur’s touch and keen sense of the absurd

—— Stephen Phillips , Spectator

[A] lively new book… Immerwahr peppers his account with colourful characters and enjoyable anecdotes… [How to Hide an Empire] throws light on the histories of everything from the Beatles to Godzilla, the birth-control pill to the transistor radio

—— Economist

This is an easily readable and vividly written book, filled with numerous fascinating tales, some well known, but many obscure… [How to Hide an Empire] illuminate[s] the wider history of both the United States and its colonies

—— Andrew Johnstone , BBC History

How to Hide an Empire…achieves a strong grounding in its sources material and the wider history of empire studies… [it] is timely and raises weighty questions on themes of identity and belong that are all very relevant today

—— All About History

[A] vivid, and sometimes quirky, retelling of American expansionism… The originality of Immerwahr’s book… [is] in his explanation of how Washington purposely avoided converting its occupations to annexations

—— Gavin Jacobson , New Statesman

Daniel Immerwahr… writes in the manner of an entertaining and informative lecturer who cannot wait to tell the class his latest discovery from the archives

—— James Michael , Times Literary Supplement

From palatial Aztec botanic gardens to Qing Dynasty evolutionary theories, Horizons upends traditional accounts of the history of science, showing how curiosity and intellectual exploration was, and is, a global phenomenon

—— Rebecca Wragg Sykes, author of Kindred

Remarkable. Challenges almost everything we know about science in the West

—— Jerry Brotton, author of A History of the World in 12 Maps

This perspective-shattering book challenges our Eurocentric narrative by spotlighting the work of historically neglected scientists

—— Caroline Sanderson , The Bookseller, 'Editor's Choice'

A useful corrective that brings us closer to a more accurate history of Western science - one which recognises Europe, not as exceptional, but as learning from the world

—— Angela Saini, author of Superior

The righting of the historical record makes Horizons a deeply satisfying read. We learn about a fascinating group of people engaged in scientific inquiry all over the world. Even more satisfyingly, Horizons demonstrates that the most famous scientists - Copernicus, Darwin and Einstein among them - couldn't have made their discoveries without the help of their global contacts

—— Valerie Hansen, author of The Year 1000

A provocative examination of major contributions to science made outside Europe and the USA, from ancient to modern times, explained in relation to global historical events. I particularly enjoyed the stories of individuals whose work tends to be omitted from standard histories of science

—— Ian Stewart, author of Significant Figures

A wonderful, timely reminder that scientific advancement is, and has always been, a global endeavour

—— Patrick Roberts, author of Jungle

This is the kind of history we need: it opens our eyes to the ways in which what we know today has been uncovered thanks to a worldwide team effort

—— Michael Scott, author of Ancient Worlds

An important milestone

—— British Journal for the History of Science, on Materials of the Mind

The freshest history of the strangest science

—— Alison Bashford, author of Global Population, on Materials of the Mind

Ambitious, riveting, Poskett tracks the global in so many senses . . . vital reading on some of the most urgent concerns facing the world history of science

—— Sujit Sivasundaram, University of Cambridge, on Materials of the Mind

Terrific . . . [Makes] a substantial contribution to understanding the universalizing properties of science and technology in history

—— Janet Browne, Harvard University, on Materials of the Mind

Horizons forces me to think outside my Eurocentric box and puts science at the centre of world history

—— David Reynolds , New Statesman, Books of the Year 2022

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