Building an American Empire

Winner of the 2018 Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship, Political Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association Paul Frymer has written one of the best available accounts of the United States' long and troubled history as a white settler nation. For anyone wanting to know why that particular form of nationalism continues to resonate so forcefully today, Building an American Empire should be required reading. ---Eliga Gould, Diplomatic History Groundbreaking. . . . The book's central contribution is to show how the adaptations of American institutions intersected with America's racial orders.. . . . It will be essential reading for scholars and students, graduate and undergraduate, of APD, American politics, and of the legacies and contemporary practices of settler colonialism in other countries. ---David Bateman, Journal of Politics Building an American Empire is a valuable contribution to the conversation on the rise of the American national state. ---William H. Bergmann, American Historical Review Winner of the 2018 J. David Greenstone Book Prize, Politics and History Section of the American Political Science Association Paul Frymer's excellent new book interrogates our most enduring myth-the Taming of the West-and in its place delivers a rich analysis of how U.S. leaders decided which territories and peoples would be included in the American civilizational project. His account puts original insights about space and race . . . at the center of our national story. ---Thomas Ogorzalek, Political Science Quarterly Building an American Empire is, in short, a terrific book-important, thoughtful, provocative, and seminal. ---Todd Estes, American Political Thought