Thursday 14 August 2014

#272 America, Empire of Liberty (2009)

Author: David Reynolds
Title: America, Empire of Liberty: A New History
Genre: History
Year: 2009
Pages: 600
Origin: a borrowed read
Nod Rating: 4 nods out of 5

 
David Reynolds has made an accomplished career as an historian of the English speaking world, principally in the relationship between England the United States of America. Therefore, it is suitable that his book on American history sold by the bucket-load and received wide critical acclaim.

America, Empire of Liberty is billed as ‘a new history’. Yes, every new history book is generally a new interpretation of the past (bar all of those terrible Kindle historical reads that seem to proliferate like a disease), and it is interesting to read Reynolds' narrative. He highlights three key themes that are continually referred to throughout the book: Empire, Liberty and Faith. Empire connects with the formation of America (from Britain’s own empire), its conquering of the American continent, the belief in Manifest Destiny and its flexing of muscles on the world stage. The second theme Liberty refers to America’s awakening in the revolution against Britain, its adherence to a constitution, and its beacon status to the rest of the democratic world (as well as the charge of hypocrisy thrown at its door in the past century). Faith – the least interesting of the three – charts the various religious groups and dimensions that flocked to America to escape persecution, before helping shape the American dimension to the present day.

In many ways the book treads familiar ground, examining key points in American history: yes, the revolution, the Civil War, American’s expansion in foreign policy, the civil rights movement, and the Cold War. But throughout all of this Reynolds poses contradictory views in his chapters, such as ‘Slave or Free?’, ‘War and Peace’, and ‘Pride and Prejudice’. Furthermore, it is of interest in the shaping of the American presence or character, defined by these external forces and polar opposites, seen no more clearly than in America’s challenge to Soviet Russia in the second half of the twentieth century.

Reynolds writes in a clear and entertaining manner, making this read – without a doubt – one of the Worm’s most pleasurable experiences within the History field during the past year. New ground is not chartered, but in terms of American history “new” cannot be found in such an overwhelming environment of historical research. New interpretations, however, are always welcome. As such, Reynolds gains 4 golden nods from the Worm.


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