Twelve Against Empire: The Anti-Imperialists, 1898-1900,

The subtitle of this book is 'How twelve men opposed the acquisition of empire in the Spanish-American War,' and the short summary has to be, 'Not very effectively.' Beisner's book is a good explanation of why this is true.It may be hard for some to think of the United States as an imperial power like Britain or Spain (let alone recognize that it still is one). But for a few years at the close of the nineteenth century, the question of whether America should acquire an empire as a result of the Spanish-American War was one of the most hotly debated topics in our political life. 'Twelve Against Empire' discusses the most critical years of that debate, 1898-1900, and several men who opposed the steady drive toward imperialism and away, as many of them saw it, from America's historic ideals.For a number of reasons, these twelve men were largely ineffective, and Beisner does a good job of telling us why. Many of them, especially the crotchety 'Mugwumps,' were more interested in complaining about the decline of American culture than in building an effective political movement (and boy, does that sound familiar!). Others, like former President Benjamin Harrison, were torn between party loyalty on one hand and anti-imperialist principles on the other. Ultimately, Harrison was only able to bring himself to criticize his Republican successor McKinley's imperialist policies *after* McKinley had been successfully reelected ... which of course mooted his criticism and dissipated what little power he may have had to shape events.Harrison is just one example of why the 'Twelve Against Empire' had so little impact on history, and are largely forgotten today (even though the anti-imperialist debate continued in some quarters into the 1920s and beyond, the American Empire was a *fait accompli* by 1900). But so long as America remains an imperial power (and ask the Hawaiians about that some time), these men's names and ideas deserve to be exhumed from the dust heap of history and given an honest hearing.Beisner is to be commended for doing so, and I recommend his book. In fact, I would encourage reading it in conjunction with Ronald Radosh's 'Prophets on the Right: Conservative Critics of American Globalism,' an excellent study of the next generation of men standing against the tide of America's global reach.

This biographical study of twelve prominent anti-imperialists won the John H. Dunning Prize from the American Historical Association. It is especially strong in tracing the life experiences and ideological backgrounds of its subjects. It is limited, however, to discussing Republican and Mugwump (former Republican) anti-imperialists, a choice that seems odd for a study of a movement that endorsed the Democratic party in every election from 1900 to 1920. It also closes with the election of 1900 even though the Anti-Imperialist League continued to operate until 1921.