A review by lifepluspreston
How to Hide an Empire by Daniel Immerwahr

4.0

How To Hide An Empire by Daniel Immerwahr--Fast-paced, with lightning wit, Immerwahr dissects the history of the American empire. He explores the acquisition and maintenance of overseas American interests, and how and why our collective approach changed over time. There's some astonishing stuff here. I didn't realize that the Constitution we drafted for Japan post WWII is still in existence today (with no amendments!) and that, accordingly, the Japanese people are actually guaranteed more rights, including gender equality, than we are. Immerwahr also gets into Pearl Harbor specifically--many US interests were attacked simultaneously, yet only Hawaii was focused on. He examines draft FDR speeches for the "day of infamy" that included the Philippines, for example, but FDR opted to exclusively look at Pearl Harbor. It's really interesting and thought-provoking. Thumbs up.