Arc of Empire

Michael H. Hunt is Emerson Professor of History Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author or editor of eleven books, including The American Ascendancy: How the United States Gained and Wielded Global Dominance and A Vietnam War Reader: A Documentary History from American and Vietnamese Perspectives.Steven Levine is research faculty associate in the Department of History at the University of Montana and author or editor of four books, including Anvil of Victory: The Communist Revolution in Manchuria, 1945-1948 and America's Wars in Asia: A Cultural Approach to History and Memory.

[This] book should be illuminating and instructive to all who are concerned about U.S. overseas military involvement and its domestic and international ramifications.- H-Empire Reviews;""A book every historian of American foreign policy will want to read, recommend, and use.""- Pacific Historical Review;""Arc of Empire's propositions and conclusions are eloquently stated and for the most part, it seems to me, true. . . . [It] will add to the knowledge of older readers and enlighten younger ones.""- The New York Review of Books;""A work of synthesis on a scale seldom attempted before. . . . A bold step away from the prevailing trend toward highly specialized narrow monographs toward a debate on the larger significance of the eight decades of conflict which characterized U.S. relations with Asia in the twentieth century.""- Journal of Military History;""A crisp, lively narrative sure to interest scholars in the field, their students, and the general public.""- Journal of American History;""A valuable book that merits careful reading. . . . Will encourage readers to take a fresh look at wars usually treated in isolation.""- Army History;""A tremendously important book . . . . It is imperative for all scholars of foreign relations, especially of U.S. foreign relations, to read Arc of Empire.""- Reviews in American History;""[Hunt and Levine] incorporate important information about ""the other side,"" discuss the devastating impact military actions had on civilians, are not hesitant to reveal atrocious behavior, and examine how imperial rule worked out in practice. Popular culture references enliven the account.""- American Historical Review;""Hunt and Levine never forget to detail the devastating human cost of war, and they do so not just through statistics, but also through references to the lives of ordinary people.""- History: Reviews of New Books;""Expertly delve[s] into sensitive topics such as imperialism and the atrocities during war. . . . Successfully aligns the four wars in Asia and American history, showing how these actions served as a continuation of empire building.""- Journal of the North Carolina Association of Historians;""Hunt and Levine make an invaluable contribution to the ongoing debate regarding America as an empire. With lively prose and attention to the humanity of those involved in these conflicts, they have written a marvelously ambitious book that remains accessible and gripping. This is a gem of a study.""- Robert J. McMahon, The Ohio State University;""A lucid, persuasive, path-breaking study by two historians keenly attuned to both past and present U.S. military engagements. Michael Hunt and Steven Levine place the four devastating wars America fought in Asia between the turn of the century and the 1970s firmly in the context of expansion and empire. They bring the Asian antagonists into these case studies in all their complexity- Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, and Vietnamese. And, in a scalding concluding chapter, they apply their insights into war-making, myth-making, and hubris in this earlier 'arc of empire' to present-day U.S. wars in the Middle East. Readers will find this absorbing and provocative start to finish, and many teachers will surely discover that Arc of Empire is terrific for classroom use.""- John W. Dower, Ford International Professor of History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology