Customer Reviews

The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War

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This is the history every American should know. The extent to which white racism was second nature to Americans in the 19th and early 20th century. The extent to which America engaged in Imperialistic warmongering. The cruelty perpetrated on foreign peoples. And the extent to which America promoted war among other nations and sowed the seeds for future conflicts. And of course, what a monster Teddy Roosevelt really was.

This book does a good job of letting the readers know about Teddy Roosevelt's foreign policy. A nice companion book would be Gabriel Kolko's "The Triumph of Conservatism" as it gives a good picture of TR's domestic agenda. Here you see that TR was not the progressive that many think he was. Rather, all of the major legislation passed under Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson favored big business and big finance. In both foreign and domestic affairs America still has deep seated mindsets it needs to overcome and the first step towards accomplishing this task is to understand our history the way it really went down.

Great book by the author of Fly Boys. Bradley did his homework. A great read or listen for those of us interested in the cause behind Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.

This book should be required reading for anybody who loves this country. Although it paints a decidedly one sided, and unflattering picture of Roosevelt, it's a side of the man and his ideals that people need to know: the the champion of the conservation movement, and progressive anti-trust reform was a racist, messianic warmonger. In telling this story, Bradley gives a very through history lesson on the attitudes that shaped this country's domestic and foreign policies. This is a history that each of us needs to know, unless we are to repeat the terrible errors of the past.

"The Imperial Cruise" is not a light read. The research is extremely thorough. Bradley posits a theory that is arguable, but he props it up against a mountain of evidence, which may seem at times redundant and overwhelming. But some of these facts are so contrary to our modern conceptions about our own history, that perhaps being heavy handed is necessary to drive home the point. In the face of all these facts, it's hard to completely dismiss his conclusions.

If you are looking for cloak and dagger, this is not the book for you. But if you have a thirst for history, you won't be able to put it down.

Awesome and incredible audio book. At first hearing I felt it was a bit opinionated but as I continued to listen, it was incredible to discover the dark side of our nations history. So many of us run to wave our flag and point the finger when individuals or other countries do things we disagree with, but when we discover that we too are guilty of injustices, we refuse accountability. Being an American means being responsible. You are a great American Mr. James Bradley. Thank you for a wonderful and insightful book.

I was spellbound as I read The Imperial Cruise from cover to cover.
Excellant job, Mr Bradley!
At the same time I was appalled by the secrecy, racism and untruths
that formulated the Asian policy of the U.S. Suddenly, it is crystal
clear why other countries view us with suspicion and distrust.
I firmly believe this book should be required reading for each member
of Congress and every high school student in America lest we perpetuate
and advance the past mistakes.

"The Imperial Cruise" is a book every fan of the Teddy Roosevelt hero-worshipping books should read. James Bradley's brilliant research uncovers the dark side of TR. The author's thesis starts with the exposure of the racism of 19th and early 20th Century America. It is a period little known to most Americans but Fox's Glenn Beck, who is obviously a bibliophile is tutoring us nightly on some of the origins of the politics we have today.

Theodore Roosevelt was a man of his time believing in the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic race and, therefore, America's mission, to civilize the world. As a result he picked the Japanese as the race that was closest to the Anglo-Saxon ideal and encouraged that nation to conquer Korea to civilize the heathens. Unfortunately, the author believes Teddy's secret encouragement of Japanese conquest led to the terrible assault on America's Pearl Harbor and precipitated the Pacific War where the author's father fought.

He details how during and after the Spanish American War American troops massacred men, women and children in the Philippines because of the belief they were an inferior race. He also alludes to the disgraceful treatment of the Chinese in 19th Century America because of racism, something that I didn't really appreciate because western novels and western movies never really focused on these hard-working immigrants. They were just scenic background for the main plots of white men and women conquering the West. But Chinese railroad workers played a major role in linking the East and West coasts with railroad tracks.

In short, this book is a riveting portrayal of American history that has been neglected by historians, whether accidentally or deliberately. We have a better understanding of TR's rationale and the thought processes that led him to make terrible decisions, with future catastrophic consequences. I still, however, do not understand how he could have underestimated the Chinese one of the first and greatest civilizations on earth, an understanding that we in the 21st Century are just beginning to fully appreciate.

It was surprising to listen to another view of Teddy Roosevelt. I was surprised by the events in the Phillipines. I would like to see a copy of the book to check out the references and the authenticity of the facts presented.

In addition to the author peppering conclusions from "modern day scholars" throughout the book, several supposed facts were voiced opinions of politicians and journalists of the time who were in opposition to Roosevelt. Newspapers back then were even more notorious than today's media for forwarding their own adopted political agendas. Yet the author repeatedly uses newspaper headlines and political speeches taken out of context to make his points. Which would be minimally acceptable if he provided both points of view, which he does not.

From Bradley's wording throughout, the reader gets a feeling of seething animosity and anger towards early 20th century America. The venom was so thick at times that I had to literally put the book down and return to it later. Bradley was clearly offended by the history of American expansionism and early 20th century racial morality, but he fails to put it in the perspective of common social behavior througout the world during that era. Most Americans were rural farmers with no intelligence of the world like we do today. Roosevelt merely reflected the culture and understandings Americans had of themselves at that time. Even so, contrary to what I can only describe as the author's amazing fantasy, the American people of the early 1900s were not hell-bent on exterminating all the non-whites from here to the caucuses (p.29, paragraph three). Their racial beliefs back then were ignorant yes, but they were not uniquely so.

It seemed to me from the opening of the first pages that Bradley had a point to make (which was mostly a hatchet job on TR) and sought to find the facts that would match his pre-determined conclusion, which is fine for a novel but not so much for nonfiction.

For a more honest and well written account of American imperialism during the turn of the 20th century, I would point to BENEVOLENT ASSIMILATION by Stuart Creighton Miller. Miller is completely factual about the ugly side of America's approach in the Pacific during the Philippine-American War, including it's racial bigotry and the brutality of guerrila warfare on both sides, but Professor Miller's work is written without a politically correct ax to grind.

Benevolent Assimilation: The American Conquest of the Philippines, 1899-1903