Writing the History of the Greater United States: A Reply to Paul Kramer.

The author replies to historian Paul Kramer's criticism of his argument that historians should consider all land under U.S. jurisdiction as part of the U.S. and therefore as part of its history. Topics discussed include Kramer's objection to the concept of the Greater U.S., the importance and centrality of territorial empire, and the desire to incorporate scholarship on overseas territory into mainstream U.S. history. Also mentioned are Kramer's book "The Blood of Government," the debates about African-American history, and the significance of scholarly work on the ways the U.S. has controlled land and people beyond its mainland.