Menace to Empire: Anticolonial Solidarities and the Transpacific Origins of the US Security State (American Crossroads)

by Moon-Ho Jung

One of Smithsonian Magazine 's Favorite Books of 2022

This history reveals how radical threats to the United States empire became seditious threats to national security and exposes the antiradical and colonial origins of anti-Asian racism.

Menace to Empire transforms familiar themes in American history. This profoundly ambitious history of race and empire traces both the colonial violence and the anticolonial rage that the United States spread across the Pacific between the Philippine-American War and World War II. Moon-Ho Jung argues that the US national security state as we know it was born out of attempts to repress and silence anticolonial subjects, from the Philippines and Hawaiʻi to California and beyond.
 
Jung examines how various revolutionary movements spanning the Pacific confronted the US empire. In response, the US state closely monitored and brutally suppressed those movements, exaggerating fears of pan-Asian solidarities and sowing anti-Asian racism. Radicalized by their opposition to the US empire and racialized as threats to US security, peoples in and from Asia pursued a revolutionary politics that engendered and haunted the national security state—the heart and soul of the US empire ever since.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Politics, Race, American History, The United States Of America, 20th Century

367 pages, Hardcover

First published February 22, 2022

Reviews

[Livia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I have a fever so I don't remember reading a lot of this. It was a little hard to follow, which bothers me about academic texts sometimes bc like – really why should they be verbose and convoluted? But a lot of really fascinating stories about the creation and organization of Asian & Asian-American resistance to empire and racialized nationalism.

[Jiewei Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good argument, but somewhat convoluted in its organizational structure. I’ve read my fair share of history nonfiction books in the past four year, and this ranks somewhere in the middle. One of the better arguments, but one of the least well structured.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really impressive and new (at least to me) perspective on the creation of the US security state through the lens of Asian anticolonial struggles in the early 20th century. I appreciated the focus on Filipino and Indian revolutionaries, though discussions on gender and women were lacking. Most importantly, this book begins to finally provide a reconciliation for my growing resignation that pan-Asian solidarity, both in the US and abroad, will not be a successful endeavor (and rather, looking beyond this limiting category and simply towards an anticapitalist, anti-imperialist future). The conclusion was particularly compelling, both highlighting the ruptures of WWII--unmasking fully the fascist nature of imperial Japan and temporarily halting the united fight against US imperialism--and drawing connections and hope for the present.

[janeee :D · Rating 3 out of 5]

“As in the past, that anticolonial rage will find creative expressions and innovative movements around the world because empire and democracy cannot coexist.”

erudite and informative , but a large portion of this recounts the filipino-american war / politics which i already learned about in detail at school because i’m filipino lol so i found a lot of this quite tedious . 3.5 .

[char · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

this book was super interesting and accessible. i feel like the fact that his source base for anticolonial movements is the government documents of a settler colonial government should have been interrogated a little bit more, but it is a super interesting approach. one of the downfalls of this approach is that it fails to look at the historical agency of the very groups it seeks to delineate and analyse further (one example, for example was about the 1907 race riots in vancouver -- but Jung could have looked at the strikes led by people of colour in vancouver that happened the next day and see what change came out of it led by the people he is examining)

[Hadley Husisian · Rating 2 out of 5]

On Higher Wages for Japanese Laborers (1909)

Appeals to forming "desirable"/assimilated citizens
Argues for wage boost to support creation of families (could limit # of riots), support education/religious institutions ("give planters an intelligint, conscientious and god-fearing labor")
Continuation of poor treatment despite political negotiations/status as "desirable race" (ex. Ozawa case/treatment that motivated strike)
"Racist-divide-and-rule tactics"
Increase of white labor unionization w/ Asians as scapegoat
Efforts to promote race competition to limit power
Same confident but respectful tone as in Letter to Governor (W1) w/ specific goals outlined (organizational power of Japanese)
Allusions to semi-slavery (comaprison to black experience/supposed moral highground of employing Asians instead/"saving" from their own cultural practices)
Federation of Japanese Labor (1920)

Continuing effects of female migration policy/increase of families>bachelors
Blaming practice of sending $ back to fams for insufficient wages (criticism of sojourner tendencies and even any loyalty to culture/family)
Bishop Koyu Uchida (1920)

Buddhism as "scapegoat" for "Yellow Peril" (contrast w/ embrace in Hawaii)
Highlights separation of church/state in Asian culture, but racism clouds judgment of those who supposedly value policy in American governance

[Daisy · Rating 5 out of 5]

More people need to read this book to understand how America's Anti-Asian racism shaped our current Security State. Countless Asian Activists had mobilized in ways that challenged America's White Supremacist Capitalistic society and the fears of Pan-Asian Movement was always rooted in this questioning of racial hierarchy. To be a menace to the US empire is to be an Asian Anarchist who dares to organize labor movements in any White country. This book will cover the time period between the Philippine-American War and World War II, using the historical events and prominent figures to argue that the US national security was we know it was created to suppress and silence anticolonial subjects in Asian majority places like Philippines, India and Hawaii.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fascinating at times but dry at others. Ultimately, though, it provides a revealing look at the connective tissue that holds together the U.S. Empire's obsessions with immigration restrictions, imperialist foreign relations, subordination of people of color, and repression of labor. Jung lays out the toxic history that created the security state and racial capitalism we have today, occasionally introducing some colorful but oft-forgotten resisters along the way.

[Matthew Rohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plenty to appreciate in this book but often ends up with tunnel vision about particular kinds of left wing activism in this period without contextualizing the broader political discussions at the time to understand the actual scope of impact of the ideas being discussed. Also is often needlessly credulous of propaganda claims from the empire of Japan, without taking seriously the other people on whose behalf they claimed to speak

[Jalen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative and very good for learning more about Asian-American and specifically Filipino anticolonial movements, as well as the foundations of US empire in Asia and the creation of the national security apparatus. Organizationally, it’s pretty convoluted and all over the place and I found myself wanting to just be done with the book at multiple points. Chapters 1,2,5,and 6 are the most important and interesting in my opinion.

[Austin Hawes · Rating 3 out of 5]

As others have stated; this book is convoluted and dense in its argument. However, the premise presented is a valid one and one that I agree on. While I enjoyed learning about anticolonial struggles in the pacific this book was a bit difficult to read.

[Cecilia]

Dnf in october 2024. I dont know why but i thought this book was going to be way more theoretical than it was. So it just wasn't exactly what i was looking for

[Aisyah Nurriza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read a bit too much like a textbook but still good