Book Review of Uncle Sams War of 1898 and origins of globalization In his book Uncle Sams War of 1898 and origins of globalization, the professor of history at the University of Louisiana, Thomas Schoonover discusses the cntrversy f traditinal assertin in regards t the rts f glbalizatin. Thomas Schoonover has written a number of books on the history of geo-political formation of the modern world as it took place in the years between 1880-1930, and in this book he continues to examine this topic. In cntrast t traditinal apprach t the Heartland f glbal dminance being smewhere in the Eurasian landmass, the authr argues that it lies smewhere in the Caribbean / Central American regin. The prfessr argues that frm 1492 t the present this regin has acted as a bridge and a springbard fr Eurpes, then Americas expansinist quest fr Asian markets. His cncise histry f the U.S.s early imperial maneuvring is scarcely cmfrting and shuld play a rle in nging debates abut current actins. Uncle Sams War f 1898 and the rigins f Glbalizatin is a path breaking wrk f histry that examines U.S. grwth frm its early natinhd t its first majr military cnflict n the wrld stage, als knwn as the Spanish-American War.
As the new natins military, industrial, and ecnmic strength develped, the United States created plicies designed t prtect itself frm challenges beynd its brders. Accrding t Schnver, a surge in U.S. activity in the Gulf-Caribbean and in Central America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was catalysed by the same avarice and cmpetitiveness that mtivated the Eurpean adventurers t seek a rute t Asia centuries earlier. Addressing the basic chrnlgy and themes f the first century f the natins expansin, Schnver lcates the rigins f the U.S. gal f glbalizatin. U.S. invlvement in the War f 1898 reflects many f the fundamental patterns in ur natinal histry – explratin and discvery, labur explitatin, vilence, racism, class cnflict, and cncern fr security – that many believe shaped Americas curse in the twentieth and twenty-first century.
The Spanish-American war f 1898, accrding t Schnver, was neither an aberratin nr a false path temprarily fllwed. It brught tgether mst f the majr themes f U.S. histry: imperialism, militarism, labur explitatin, and racism. Industrial technlgy increased prductin t a level where glbal distributin was the nly way f sustaining the prfits Americans had cme t expect. The rts f American glbalizatin can be fund in the War f 1898. Then, as tday, the United States actively engaged in glbalizing its ecnmic rder, its plitical institutins, and its values. Thmas Schnver argues that this drive t expand plitical and cultural reach – the quest fr wealth, missinary fulfilment, security, pwer, and prestige – was inherited by the United States frm Eurpe, especially Spain and Great Britain. Fr Schnver, westward expansin was nt a search fr land and freedm, but a stage in pening Americas way t the Pacific basin.
The Caribbean regin played a vital rle in the prcess because it was the site fr the isthmus canal that linked the U.S. – dminated Nrth Atlantic t a Pacific regin where during the first half f the 20th century, U.S. aims and plicies were asserted by sphisticated cmbinatins f ecnmic, plitical, military and cultural pressure. Asian reactins were predictable: suspicin, distrust, anger, and hatred, a legacy that Schnver finds endures t the present. Schnver acknwledges his particular intellectual debt t Walter LaFeber (wh prvides an intrductin) fr many f these ideas. Uncle Sams War of 1898 and origins of globalization is the book about new understanding of globalization, which provides for the recognition that this process has started a long time ago, at the times of conflict between the United States and Spain. Masterfully told, the story of the war between these two nations is delivered in such a manner that aims at convincing the reader that it was the first global war of the United States.
Bibliography: Schoonover, Thomas. Uncle Sams War of 1898 and origins of globalization..