Andrew Priest - Böcker

In the eyes of both contemporaries and historians, the United States became an empire in 1898. By taking possession of Cuba and the Philippines, the nation seemed to have reached a watershed moment in its rise to power—spurring arguments over whether it should be a colonial power at all. However, the questions that emerged in the wake of 1898 built on long-standing and far-reaching debates over America’s place in the world.Andrew Priest offers a new understanding of the roots of American empire that foregrounds the longer history of perceptions of European powers. He traces the development of American thinking about European imperialism in the years after the Civil War, before the United States embarked on its own overseas colonial projects. Designs on Empire examines responses to Napoleon III’s intervention in Mexico, Spain and the Ten Years’ War in Cuba, Britain’s occupation of Egypt, and the carving up of Africa at the Berlin Conference. Priest shows how observing and interacting with other empires shaped American understandings of the international environment and their own burgeoning power. He highlights ambivalence among American elites regarding empire as well as the prevalence of notions of racial hierarchy. While many deplored the way powerful nations dominated others, others saw imperial projects as the advance of civilization, and even critics often felt a closer affinity with European imperialists than colonized peoples.A wide-ranging book that blends intellectual, political, and diplomatic history, Designs on Empire sheds new light on the foundations of American power.

In the eyes of both contemporaries and historians, the United States became an empire in 1898. By taking possession of Cuba and the Philippines, the nation seemed to have reached a watershed moment in its rise to power—spurring arguments over whether it should be a colonial power at all. However, the questions that emerged in the wake of 1898 built on long-standing and far-reaching debates over America’s place in the world.Andrew Priest offers a new understanding of the roots of American empire that foregrounds the longer history of perceptions of European powers. He traces the development of American thinking about European imperialism in the years after the Civil War, before the United States embarked on its own overseas colonial projects. Designs on Empire examines responses to Napoleon III’s intervention in Mexico, Spain and the Ten Years’ War in Cuba, Britain’s occupation of Egypt, and the carving up of Africa at the Berlin Conference. Priest shows how observing and interacting with other empires shaped American understandings of the international environment and their own burgeoning power. He highlights ambivalence among American elites regarding empire as well as the prevalence of notions of racial hierarchy. While many deplored the way powerful nations dominated others, others saw imperial projects as the advance of civilization, and even critics often felt a closer affinity with European imperialists than colonized peoples.A wide-ranging book that blends intellectual, political, and diplomatic history, Designs on Empire sheds new light on the foundations of American power.

Kennedy, Johnson and the Defence of NATO is an incisive reassessment of Anglo-American defence relations, which form a crucial part of international security.Andrew Priest closely examines this key relationship by focusing on the so-called Nassau agreement of December 1962. He clearly places Nassau in its context and shows how multi-level collaboration continued between the US and UK in NATO despite growing tensions over American involvement in Southeast Asia and Britain’s global role. Firstly, he shows how agreements made between Presidents and Prime Ministers shape alliances in by encouraging interaction between politicians, government officials and military personnel at various levels of formality. Secondly, by focusing on the NATO area, he assesses US-UK attitudes to European and North Atlantic defence.Traditionally, studies of US-UK relations at this time have tended to concentrate on developing difficulties between Presidents and Prime Ministers (particularly Harold Wilson and Lyndon B. Johnson), over global issues. This study demonstrates the ‘dynamics of alliance’ through a nuanced approach at high-political, official and ‘working’ levels, across different administrations in the US and UK. Although more recently some authors have successfully integrated such a ‘multi-layered’ approach particularly to studies of nuclear affairs, they have tended to treat the 1962 Nassau agreement as something of a dénouement.This book will be essential reading for students of US foreign policy, British foreign policy, Anglo-American relations, European-American relations and the history of NATO.

Kennedy, Johnson and the Defence of NATO is an incisive reassessment of Anglo-American defence relations, which form a crucial part of international security.Andrew Priest closely examines this key relationship by focusing on the so-called Nassau agreement of December 1962. He clearly places Nassau in its context and shows how multi-level collaboration continued between the US and UK in NATO despite growing tensions over American involvement in Southeast Asia and Britain’s global role. Firstly, he shows how agreements made between Presidents and Prime Ministers shape alliances in by encouraging interaction between politicians, government officials and military personnel at various levels of formality. Secondly, by focusing on the NATO area, he assesses US-UK attitudes to European and North Atlantic defence.Traditionally, studies of US-UK relations at this time have tended to concentrate on developing difficulties between Presidents and Prime Ministers (particularly Harold Wilson and Lyndon B. Johnson), over global issues. This study demonstrates the ‘dynamics of alliance’ through a nuanced approach at high-political, official and ‘working’ levels, across different administrations in the US and UK. Although more recently some authors have successfully integrated such a ‘multi-layered’ approach particularly to studies of nuclear affairs, they have tended to treat the 1962 Nassau agreement as something of a dénouement.This book will be essential reading for students of US foreign policy, British foreign policy, Anglo-American relations, European-American relations and the history of NATO.