Among Empires: American Ascendancy and Its Predecessors

Charles Maier manages to create a book that pushes the reader to think in ways might not have before. His writing style is both engaging and brilliant. No other book I've read on the subject matches up. A must read for anyone interested in History.

The latest book by Charles S. Maier is an interesting overview on the life of empire. The best part of it can be connected with the theoretical evaluation of the empire, especially regarding how the empire treats its borders. However, after the theoretical part one cannot escape the impression that the books turns too detailed. It is doubtful whether the long discussions about the US foreign policy during the Cold War could help to understand the essence of empire. And Maier delicately avoids answering to the question whether US is empire or not. And sometimes the text may be difficult for non-American (I'm Estonian). Still, the book can be recommended to the readers who are familiar with issues of the international relations and contemporary history. For the beginners the book may be too difficult.

With the demise of the former Soviet Union in 1991-92 and the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq in the post- 9/11 period there has been an inordinate among of ink spilled in academic circles over the question of whether the United States has become the latest empire. In fact, this question has created something of a cottage industry. Professor Maier's book is a contribution, and not the worst, to this controversy. Militants of this generation who understand what is wrong with the drift of American society must confront the question of the imperialistic nature of the United States head-on. For my generation, the generation of 68, the imperialistic nature of the United States was a given. The question then really centered on what to do about it. For a variety of reasons we were not successful in taming the monster. Each generation must come to an understanding of the nature of imperialist society in its own way. And fight it. Thus, this book is a good place to start to understand that question. A lot of the current controversy in academic circles (government and military circles have no such difficulties) about whether there is an American Empire gets tangled up in comparisons with past empires. True, the American Empire does not look like previous empires. The real problem is trying to pigeonhole the contours of empire based on past experiences. As if the builders of each empire doe not learn something from the mistakes of previous empires. Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin long ago analyzed the basis contours of modern imperialism in his seminal work Imperialism- The Highest Stage of Capitalism. That outline, although in need of updating to reflect various, mainly technological, in the global capitalist structure remains an important document for militants today. By his or virtually any other definition the United States gets the nod. But let's get down to brass tasks. Hell, the American Empire, is the mightiest military machine the world has ever known defending a nationally-based global economic infrastructure. Previous empires, like the Roman and British, are punk bush league operations in comparison. Academics can afford to have an agnostic view about whether an empire exists or the effects of imperial power. However, when one's door is kicked in by a foreign, heavily armed soldier in some god forsaken village in Iraq or Vietnam, or your city is flattened in order to `save' it a ready definition of imperialism comes to mind. And a good one. One of the issues that cloud the question of the American Empire is that there is no readily apparent imperialist ideology. In fact, it is argued, for historical reasons, that there is some kind of popular anti-imperialist ideology in America that has always countered the trend toward empire. I take exception to that notion. While there has always been a section of the chattering classes that has held this position it has never really taken popular root. What is really the dominating popular theme is more l

Professor Maier's "Among Empires" may be the most careful and balanced look yet at the similarities between late 20th and early 21st century America and the heights of both the Roman and British empires. Unlike his fellow Harvard colleague Niall Ferguson's "The Roman Predicament" (which I also favorably reviewed), Maier does not assume American imperialism, but rather "compares some of the recurring elements of empires and asks to what extent the United States shares these attributes and what are some of the possible consequences for our current political choices." Maier looks at these possible consequences and political choices both abroad and at home, arguing that the transnational structure of empire both depends on and consolidates "social cleavages throughout its domain," which seems to define the operative political mode in the U.S. Whether or not the growing American hegemony benefits more than simply the powerful and well-connected, or even the citizens at home, Maier adduces many economic criteria, but the damage to cultures, ethnic identities, and values other than consumerism must be balanced against the potential for greater, though not always equitable, economic prosperity. If we are to continue the spread of American dominance, then discussions like these must be part of the public dialogue, because individual citizens can no longer simply ignore the rest of the world when making political choices. We have already seen the consequences of such complacency.