This is an excellent history of the origins of American imperialism. I was a little misled about the cover and was expecting a big showdown or maybe even a little more from Mark Twain. The big takeaway for me was that it was (from the perspective of the book) a national conversation about the future and character of the country and it could have gone either way. Obviously we know which way it went and with today’s casual and continual daily actions and bombings it is interesting to ponder where we might be had imperialism not triumphed in our national character. In particular if William Jennings Bryan wasn’t fixated on the gold standard thing he could have been president and things would be a lot different.
