Empire for Liberty: A History of American Imperialism from Benjamin Franklin to Paul Wolfowitz

An historian examines six public figures—from Benjamin Franklin to Paul Wolfowitz—who used the language of liberty to further American imperialism.

How could the United States, a nation founded on the principles of liberty and equality, have produced Abu Ghraib, torture memos, and warrantless wiretaps? In Empire for Liberty, historian Richard Immerman reveals that the quest for empire has guided the nation’s architects from the very beginning—and continues to do so today.

Immerman paints nuanced portraits of six men who influenced the course of American empire: Benjamin Franklin, John Quincy Adams, William Henry Seward, Henry Cabot Lodge, John Foster Dulles, and Paul Wolfowitz. Each played a pivotal role as empire builder and, with the exception of Adams, did so without occupying the presidency.

Taking readers from the nation’s founding to the War on Terror, Immerman shows how the trajectory of American empire was relentless if not straight; and how these shrewd and powerful individuals shaped their rhetoric about liberty to suit the times—and their needs. But Immerman also demonstrates, liberty and empire were on a collision course. And in the Global War on Terror and the occupation of Iraq, they violently collided.

© 2010 Princeton University Press (Ebook): 9781400834280

Release date

Ebook: 5 April 2010