Manifest Manhood and the Antebellum American Empire [Paperback]

Amy S. Greenberg (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521600804 | ISBN-13: 978-0521600804 | Publication Date: June 6, 2005

The U.S.-Mexico War (1846-1848) brought two centuries of dramatic territorial expansionism to a close, and apparently fulfilled America's Manifest Destiny. Or did it? Even as politicians schemed to annex new lands in Latin America and the Pacific, other Americans aggressively pursued expansionism independently. In fact, an epidemic of unsanctioned attacks by private American mercenaries (known as filibusters) occurred between 1848 and 1860 throughout the Western Hemisphere. This book documents the potency of Manifest Destiny in the antebellum era, and analyzes imperial lust in the context of the social and economic transformations that were changing the definition of gender in the U.S. Amy S. Greenberg is Associate Professor of History and Women's Studies at Pennsylvania State University. She is also the author of Cause for Alarm: The Volunteer Fire Department in the Nineteenth-Century City (Princeton, 1998). She has served on the governing boards of the Urban History Association, and the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, and on the editorial board of Journal of Urban History. She is the recipient of the Pennsylvania State University George Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching, as well as numerous fellowships.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Amy Greenberg's fascinating account casts new light on Manifest Destiny expansionism by showing how martial conceptions of manhood animated the enthusiasm for territorial annexation in the 1850s. Filibustering, she finds, stemmed not only from economic and political ambitions but from widespread male desires for adventure and romance. Although more restrained visions of manhood also influenced expansionist ambitions, particularly in Hawaii, Greenberg demonstrates that aggressive conceptions of manhood shaped foreign relations long before Theodore Roosevelt rallied the Rough Riders." -Kristin Hoganson, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

"In this thoughtfully constructed and informative book, Greenberg develops a highly original thesis about American territorial expansionism and destroys the common wisdom that Manifest Destiny was in its death throes by the Civil War. Providing the most penetrating analysis, to date, of filibustering's ramifications for U.S. culture, Greenberg convincingly highlights the significance of gendered images, arguments, and ambitions within imperialist and anti-imperialist discourse alike. This book, in engaging prose richly informed by theory but refreshingly free of jargon, makes use of a treasure of source material, especially travel accounts and magazine pieces and convincingly illuminates hitherto unexplored connections between filibustering abroad and urban life at home, while also connecting U.S. military aggression against Latin America with America's imperial record in the Pacific. This is an insightful and provocative take on nineteenth-century American aggression overseas that has implications for the nation's modern plight abroad." -Robert May, Purdue University

"This work is a gender study of American expansionism during the period from 1848 to 1860." -Antonio Rafael de la Cova, The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"...a fine book that will be useful in many contexts." -Mark Jaede, JOURNAL OF THE EARLY REPUBLIC

Book Description

This history of American territorial expansionism in the middle decades of the 19th century provides a new analysis of the forces driving and justifying the annexation of foreign territories by the United States. This is the first history of "Manifest Destiny" that places it in the context of transformations in gender ideology and ideals of manhood and womanhood at home. As Americans debated the propriety of taking new lands by force of arms, they disclosed their concerns about changes in the economy, and about the way American men and women should behave.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (June 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521600804
• ISBN-13: 978-0521600804
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #197,829 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic research on changing attitudes of American men, August 14, 2008

By 

Brian Griffith (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Manifest Manhood and the Antebellum American Empire (Paperback)

This is first class historical writing. Greenberg focuses on the 1840's to 50s, between the war on Mexico and the Civil war, when the nation had achieved its coast to coast "manifest destiny", but was torn over the next directions for growth. She explores the lively contention between visions of manhood and national success, between "restrained men" and "militant men" through every kind of public and private writing of the time. She follows the adventures of "filibuster" men, devoted to leading privateer expeditions to push open new frontieres for American civilization in Latin America or the Pacific. As she quotes the New York Herald in 1847, "Like the Sabine virgins, she [Mexico] will soon learn to love her ravisher." And the Democratic Review boasted in the late 1850s, "in no part of the world nor in any age, are the traits of a conquering and a dominant people to be found in greater perfection than among ourselves". Such views clash with other visions -- of professional family men or activist women -- creating a fine drama that echoes down the decades of American history to the present time.