Is there an American Empire?

With a name like “The United States of America”, it can be easy to forget that this country’s borders extend well beyond the fifty states of the union.  In fact, millions of American citizens live on US territory well outside those borders.  It’s not just Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands, and the North Mariana Islands, but the many military bases we occupy across the globe too. 

“Empire” might not always be a word associated with the USA, but some historians  think the label fits.  Dr. Daniel Immerwahr is one of them, and he thinks that the country’s trajectory in capturing new territory bears a striking resemblance to the British Empire—the same one that the country’s architects were so often critical of. 

Book: How to Hide an Empire: a History of the Greater United States
Guest: Dr. Daniel Immerwahr, Professor of history at Northwestern University
Producer: Elliot Smith
Music: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton
Editors: Bethany Denton and Jeff Emtman

With a name like “The United States of America”, it can be easy to forget that this country’s borders extend well beyond the fifty states of the union.  In fact, millions of American citizens live on US territory well outside those borders.  It’s not just Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands, and the North Mariana Islands, but the many military bases we occupy across the globe too. 

“Empire” might not always be a word associated with the USA, but some historians  think the label fits.  Dr. Daniel Immerwahr is one of them, and he thinks that the country’s trajectory in capturing new territory bears a striking resemblance to the British Empire—the same one that the country’s architects were so often critical of. 

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

Guest: Dr. Daniel Immerwahr, Professor of history at Northwestern University

Producer: Elliot Smith

Music: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton

Editors: Bethany Denton and Jeff Emtman