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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A penetrating study of a forgotten yet crucial era, May 16, 2002
This book, written almost forty years ago, offers an important, fact-filled overview of a very important era in American history, one that is largely forgotten today. The New Empire does a more than credible job of filling in the huge gaps in our collective history of 1865-1898, and it turns out that something indeed happened between Reconstruction and the Spanish-American War. First, LaFeber provides a worthy overview of American expansion in these years. Next, he describes the development of expansionist ideas by examining critical policy makers and pundits such as Fredrick Jackson Turner, Henry Adams, and Alfred Thayer Mahan. Finally, he delves into the history of events and policy decisions chronologically. While his information on the 1870s and 1880s is good, it mostly serves as a springboard for his assessment of expansion and commercial imperialism in the 1890s. The final decade of the nineteenth century is a crucial time in American history. Wracked with the Panic of 1893 and the terrible depression of the following years, America first stepped out on to the world stage, largely in an effort to protect the very viability of the nation from labor unrest and anarchy. LaFeber describes all of the international issues the U.S. addressed in this era: revolutions in Latin America (and America's steadfast enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine), the strong push by both businesses and/or government for foreign markets, the question of annexation of Hawaii, the Philippines, and Cuba., and the fluid relations between America and the European powers. The depression of the 1890s convinced many influential men that America could not survive economically without developing new commercial frontiers in which to unload its surplus agriculture and, in particular, manufactures. Antiannexationist voices were muted by the late 1890s; the only debate was one of annexation vs the establishment of protectorate status to the likes of Hawaii and the Philippines. LaFeber contends that economic issues largely explain the development of America's new imperial policy. This is argued most forcefully in his investigation of the origins of the Spanish-American War. The most important economic issues at the time were the Cuban revolution, the dangers of losing access to Chinese markets due to the machinations of countries such as Germany and Russia, the establishment of defensively important outposts in the Far East, and the construction of an isthmian canal in Latin America. He does a wonderful job of describing the wavering opinions of policy makers and businessmen in the 1890s and of America's reorganization of political alliances with the European powers, Russia, and Japan. He makes a forceful argument for his economic explanation of the war with Spain in 1898. McKinley was not alone in trying to avoid war, but he and many other leaders came to realize that America could not compete economically without establishing foreign markets and that stability and guaranteed access to such markets would require annexation of strategic areas and the development of a strong navy with which to secure and maintain access to foreign ports. This book is a wonderful source of information on American foreign policy from 1865 to 1898. It is rather easy to point to the Spanish-American War as the herald of America's transformation from isolationism to globalism, but LaFeber proves that the U.S. began to aggressively pursue a policy of commercial imperialism in the mid-1890s. This is not an all-inclusive history, however. It can be argued that LaFeber relies too intently on economics in his description of America's evolving foreign policy. This is true to some extent, but he does not dismiss other factors in choosing to concentrate on economics. All in all, I would recommend this book wholeheartedly. It is enlightening to penetrate the veil of these forgotten years to see how a progression of events in and outside America set the stage for America's ardent stride into the role of global and commercial superpower. Those who begin their stories of American commercial and diplomatic expansion with the Spanish-American War and the introduction of the Open Door Notes would do well to read The New Empire and follow the true beginnings of the national transformation back into the 1890s.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The book hits the heart of 19th century U.S. foreign policy., November 13, 1998
This analysis of the roots of U.S. foreign policy, and its emphasis on expansionism, was written 35 years ago, but remains extremely timely. LaFeber convincingly paints the 1890s as the watershed decade in American history, the decade in which America abandoned forever its isolationist rhetoric and entered the world stage as a power player.But the real insight of the book is that the decade of the '90s flowed inevitably from the internal expansion that drove American history through the 18th century and the first half of the 19th. He points out that by the 1850s, key political figures, especially William Seward, were looking outward, anticipating the need for new markets as an outlet for American agricultural and industrial productivity. LaFeber briefly but sharply etches a portrait of Seward and his influential ideas, and includes excellent analyses of the ideas of other influential men of the day: Frederick Jackson Turner, Alfred Thayer Mahan, Josiah Strong, Brook Adams, and Theodore Roosevelt. Just as impressive is his ability to compare and contrast the expansionist ideas of lesser-known men including secretaries of state William Evarts, Frederick Freylinghuysen, and William G. Blaine. Learned men in all fields sometimes neglect the craft of writing clearly, failing to realize that good writing does not simplify ideas; rather, it illuminates them. Professor LaFeber's recognized this, and his fine writing brings the late 19th century alive. Highly recommended.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Convincing viewpoints. Essential reading., May 20, 2000
Just as revolution had been present in the minds of the Colonists long before 1776 the actual 19th Century expansion that LaFeber examines had begun long before 1898. As early as 1850 but especially after the Civil War American exports climbed dramatically. With the conversion of power from Planters to Industrialists the American industrial economy grew, perpetrating a surplus for which new markets were essential. THE NEW EMPIRE deals not only with the economics of expansion but also with the diplomatic issues that helped usher in a new role for America and its position in global affairs. By the dawn of the new century the United States had acquired possessions reaching half-way around the world and it was these possessions, and their dealings with them, that established the United States as a major world power. Potential readers will find THE NEW EMPIRE to be a very thoroughly researched work that is essential to understanding the factors that were present which influenced American foreign policy as it entered the 20th century. Very thought provoking. Dissipates the common assumption that America merely "took" certain areas. In short, I am satisfied having purchased and read this book. Despite its size it is a fast read but more important lays the groundwork for understanding America's rise as a world power.
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