Colonial Crucible: Empire in the Making of the Modern American State

by Alfred W. McCoy (Editor), Francisco A. Scarano (Editor)

At the end of the nineteenth century the United States swiftly occupied a string of small islands dotting the Caribbean and Western Pacific, from Puerto Rico and Cuba to Hawaii and the Philippines. Colonial Empire in the Making of the Modern American State reveals how this experiment in direct territorial rule subtly but profoundly shaped U.S. policy and practice—both abroad and, crucially, at home. Edited by Alfred W. McCoy and Francisco A. Scarano, the essays in this volume show how the challenge of ruling such far-flung territories strained the U.S. state to its limits, creating both the need and the opportunity for bold social experiments not yet possible within the United States itself. Plunging Washington’s rudimentary bureaucracy into the white heat of nationalist revolution and imperial rivalry, colonialism was a crucible of change in American statecraft. From an expansion of the federal government to the creation of agile public-private networks for more effective global governance, U.S. empire produced far-reaching innovations.
    Moving well beyond theory, this volume takes the next step, adding a fine-grained, empirical texture to the study of U.S. imperialism by analyzing its specific consequences. Across a broad range of institutions—policing and prisons, education, race relations, public health, law, the military, and environmental management—this formative experience left a lasting institutional imprint. With each essay distilling years, sometimes decades, of scholarship into a concise argument, Colonial Crucible reveals the roots of a legacy evident, most recently, in Washington’s misadventures in the Middle East.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, United States, The Americas

685 pages, Paperback

First published March 16, 2009

About the author

Dr Alfred W. McCoy is professor of SE Asian History at the U. of Wisconsin at Madison where he also serves as director of the Center for SE Asian Studies, a federally-funded National Resource Center. He's spent the past quarter-century writing about the politics & history of the opium trade. In addition to publications, he serves as a correspondent for the Observatoire Geopolitique des Drogues in Paris & was plenary speaker at their '92 conference in Paris sponsored by the European Community. In '93, he presented a paper on the Mafia & the Asian heroin trade at the Conference in Honor of Giovanni Falcone in Palermo, Sicily. In 3/96, he was the plenary speaker at the 7th International Conference on Drug Harm Reduction in Hobart, Australia. He's served as expert witness & consultant to the Canadian Commission of Inquiry into the Non-Medical use of Drugs, the Australian Royal Commission of Inquiry into Drugs, the Minister of Administrative Services, Victoria State Parliament, & the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Drug Enforcement Policy & Support in the Office of the US Secretary of Defense. Recently, he worked as consultant & commentator for a tv documentary on the global heroin traffic produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, accompanying the crew to locations in Burma, Thailand, Vietnam & Laos.

Reviews

[Derrick Rowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Colonial Crucible is anthology of various essays that examines differing perspectives of America’s colonization of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, as well as its control of its informal Caribbean Empire. The essays in this book demonstrate how American Empire influenced the development of policy with the United States the development of policy the United States also influence the Empire. This volume has many different perspectives and is useful for those who are interested in the myriad of aspects of American colonial policy and both the informal and formal American colonial empire. For those who wish to study the Philippines in American Empire further this is a good volume to keep as a reference for future research.

[Fresno Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

interesting set of articles by mostly non-american authors

[Anh Le · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very solid edited volume tackling different perspectives of the Americans' colonization of the Philippine. Good to keep as reference for future research.

[Kaiti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these essays were super interesting, and some were boring as hell, so it's hard to give the book an overall rating.

[Jason S · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting anthology about how empire influenced the development of policy in America.