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This four-volume encyclopedia chronicles the historical roots of the United States'current military dominance, documenting its growth from continental expansionism to hemispheric hegemony to global empire.This groundbreaking four-volume encyclopedia offers sweeping coverage of a subject central to American history and of urgent importance today as the nation wrestles with a global imperial posture and the long-term viability of the largest military establishment in human history. The work features more than 650 entries encompassing the full scope of American expansionism and imperialism from the colonial era through the 21st-century'War on Terror.'Readers will learn about U.S.-Native American conflicts; 19th-century land laws; early forays overseas, for example, the opening of Japan; and America's imperial conflicts in Cuba and the Philippines. U.S. interests in Latin America are explored, as are the often-forgotten ambitions that lay behind the nation's involvement in the World Wars. The work also offers extensive coverage of the Cold War and today's ongoing conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, and the Middle East as they relate to U.S. national interests. Notable individuals, including American statesmen, military commanders, influential public figures, and anti-imperialists are covered as well. The inclusion of cultural elements of American expansionism and imperialism—for example, Hollywood films and protest music—helps distinguish this set from other more limited works.

With one eye on the world and one on the home front, the United States at the turn of the 20th century was distinguished both by its emerging global engagements—including the acquisition of new territories and its involvement in the First World War—and the social movements that surged throughout the country. Readers examine American history between the end of the Civil War and the end of World War I, considering in depth both the imperialist and progressive influences that heralded the country's future position as a major force on the international stage. Meticulously chosen articles, speeches, and other primary source documents are included alongside narrative to provide a complete picture of the era.

This text helps students understand world history by focusing on an issue that has profoundly shaped the modern world order: the establishment and collapse of global empires since 1750.An Imperial World uses a combination of primary documents and analytical essays, both tightly focused around four case studies: India, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. It examines the historical development of colonial systems and shows their enormous role in shaping the modern world order. It is meant to be thematic and suggestive, offering arguments and information to serve as a starting point for discussion and exploration.

The most exhaustive reference work available on this critical subject in world history, focusing on the politics, economy, culture, and society of both colonizers and colonized.'The history of the last 500 years is the history of imperialism,'writes editor Melvin Page. In the Americas, as a result of imperialist conquest, disease, famine, and war nearly wiped out a population estimated in the tens of millions. Africa was devastated by the slave trade, an integral part of imperialism from the 1400s to the 1800s. In Asia, even though native populations survived, native political institutions were destroyed. Imperialism also forged the two most important ideologies of the last five centuries—racialism and modern nationalism.In more than 600 essays presented in this three-volume encyclopedia, Page and other leading scholars—historians, political scientists, economists, and sociologists—analyze the origins of imperialism, the many forms it took, and its impact worldwide. They also explore imperialism's bitter legacy: the gross inequities of global wealth and power that divide the former conquerors—primarily Europe, the United States, and Japan—from the people they conquered.

The phenomenon of imperialism has never been under such intense scrutiny, by such a wide range of academic disciplines, as it is today. From cultural studies to the history of science, academics are engaged in a series of debates about empire which move far beyond traditional preoccupations with metropolitan strategy, economics, and rivalry. Using primary and secondary documentary sources, this reader negotiates the many trends and concerns in recent debates to provide a broad-based, comparative history of the British Empire. Selected readings are presented within a chronological framework, from the origins of empire to decolonization and beyond. Samson adopts a theme of identity to explore different perspectives through the sources, including metropolitan, colonial, and indigenous responses. General and section introductions explore such issues as the role of economics and religion in imperial expansion and rule; how indigenous and Creole populations constructed and expressed their own identities; and what changes were wrought by the process of decolonization. Bringing together a wide range of documentary evidence, this volume allows the varied and vital debates on aspects of imperialism and identity to be seen in the context of the broad history of the British Empire.

Title from eBook title screen (viewed on June 5, 2006).