Honor in the Dust: Theodore Roosevelt, War in the Philippines, and the Rise and Fall of America’s Imperial Dream
Posted: February 10th, 2012 | No Comments »Books on Roosevelt’s Asia-Pacific policy keep on coming – perhaps given the recent imperial adventures of the USA they are finding it instructutive to look back on an earlier time of overseas engagement. Roosevelt of course was deeply involved in the Philippines – what’s interesting about anything on the American occupation of the islands is how many American judges, administrators, consuls, businessmen, whores and gangsters wound up making the jump from Manila to Shanghai in the first years of the twentieth century. They crop uo again and again in Manila and then in Shanghai. So, Gregg Jones’s Honor in the Dust – blurb below as usual.
On the eve of a new century, an up-and-coming Theodore Roosevelt set out to transform the U.S. into a major world power. The Spanish-American War would forever change America’s standing in global affairs, and drive the young nation into its own imperial showdown in the Philippines.
From Admiral George Dewey’s legendary naval victory in Manila Bay to the Rough Riders’ heroic charge up San Juan Hill, from Roosevelt’s rise to the presidency to charges of U.S. military misconduct in the Philippines, Honor in the Dust brilliantly captures an era brimming with American optimism and confidence as the nation expanded its influence abroad.
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