Contradictory Images of Empire

One of the most vibrant subfields of U.S. foreign relations history is imperial studies. It might even be more proper to say that imperial history is becoming its own subfield, despite lacking the infrastructure of a professional society, dedicated journal, and job postings. The number of scholars and their engaging, insightful work suggest imperial studies will only develop further. David Brody's Visualizing American Empire is a worthy contributor to this burgeoning literature. He explores the visual ways in which Americans learned of their empire, represented their imperial longings, and imagined themselves in empire. Importantly, he also attempts to elucidate some of the images of “the Orient” present in the American imaginary already before the 1890s, which could be drawn on to support the imperial adventure of 1898. Visualizing American Empire is an ambitious interdisciplinary exploration of representations of empire. Brody has grounded his analysis in careful readings of a body of work in theory, history, and art, and he speaks effectively to multiple audiences. He has made his sophisticated analysis remarkably accessible. There is much to admire in this book, but the approach and the source base raise a few questions as well

Adventure · Aesthetics · Ancient history · Art · Art history · Empire · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · The Imaginary · Australian History and Society · History · Psychology