Introduction: Americans and empire – a love-hate relationship? What
is imperialism? What remains of the legacy of anti-imperialism from
Vietnam to Nicaragua?
1) Empire of liberty: from the revolution to the Mexican war.
2) Winning the West: from civil war to the closing of the
frontier.
3) Cuba Libre: the colonial thrust of 1898, and the emergence of
the Anti-Imperialist League (Charles Beard, Twain et al).
4) Wilsonianism and its Discontents: how the Anti-Imperialist
League fought Wilson over Haiti; the left opposition to WWI and the
first pangs of ‘Cold War’.
5) Bolshevism and anti-imperialism: American communism,
Trotskyists, the Abraham Lincoln brigades, and WWII.
6) Cold War and decolonisation: communism, the African American
left, resisting the Cold War consensus, etc.
7) Vietnam and after: how the civil rights movement fed into the
antiwar movement, first signs of sympathy with Palestine, explicit
anti-imperialism, William Appleman Williams, Gabriel Kolko, Noam
Chomsky, etc. Solidarity movements in Nicaragua, Haiti and
elsewhere.
8) The fall of the Berlin wall, 20 years hence. Solidarity
movements, pro-Palestine activism, GI resistance, etc.
Advertising on Seymour's blog (Lenin's Tomb), which is among the
most widely read in Britain, and has a growing American
audience.
Reviews will be sought from The Nation, and similar
publications
Reviews will also be pitched to academic journals dealing with
America History
Publicity and promotion in conjunction with the author's speaking
engagements
Richard Seymour is a socialist writer and columnist and runs the
blog Lenin's Tomb. He is the author of The Liberal Defense of
Murder (Verso, 2008), and The Meaning of David Cameron (Zero Books,
2010). He has contributed to Christopher Hitchens and His Critics:
Terror, Iraq and the Left , (NYU Press, 2008) and The Ashgate
Research Companion to Political Violence (Ashgate, forthcoming).
His articles have appeared in The Guardian, The New Statesman,
Radical Philosophy and Historical Materialism. Originally from
Northern Ireland, he now resides in London, where he is studying
for a PhD at the London School of Economics.
“American Insurgents presents an indispensable history of
anti-imperialist movements in the United States. . . . Seymour
shatters a whole host of standard misconceptions about resistance
to overseas adventures, refuting the common portrait of a US public
apathetic to the crimes of its government in foreign lands. . . .
The book is illuminated by the courageous and inspiring voices of
US anti-imperialists, from Frederick Douglass to Muhammad Ali to
current opponents of recent US wars in the Middle East.”
—Michael Schwartz, author, War Without End
“In these times of international rebellion, [Richard Seymour] has
given us a tool with which to build a movement for a more just
world, both within and beyond our borders.”
—Camilo Mejía, author, Road to ar-Ramadi
“In the tradition of Howard Zinn's A People’s History of the United
States and Joe Allen’s Vietnam, Richard Seymour shows that US
imperialism has generated significant domestic opposition rooted in
grassroots movements for racial, economic, and social justice.”
—Michael Letwin, founding member, New York City Labor Against the
War and Labor for Palestine
Praise for Liberal Defense of Murder
“Richard Seymour’s obsessively researched, impressive first book
holds its place as the most authoritative historical analysis of
its kind”
—Resurgence
“[T]ruly impressive breadth and depth ... [providing] ... a new
European perspective – and a warning – on the left’s pragmatic and
ultimately shortsighted support for imperialist adventures”
—Journal of American Studies
“[A] powerful counter-blast against the monstrous regiment of
‘useful idiots’” who have “contributed in recent decades to the
murderous mess of modern times”
— Times of London
“[A]n excellent antidote to the propagandists of the crisis of our
times”
—Independent on Sunday
“[T]imely, provocative and thought-provoking”
—Independent
“Among those who share responsibility for the carnage and chaos in
the Gulf are the useful idiots who gave the war intellectual cover
and attempted to lend it a liberal imprimatur. The more belligerent
they sounded the more bankrupt they became; the more strident their
voice the more craven their position … Richard Seymour expertly
traces their descent from humanitarian intervention to blatant
Islamophobia.”
—Gary Younge
“Indispensable … Seymour brilliantly uncovers the pre-history and
modern reality of the so-called ‘pro-war Left.”
—China Miéville
“[E]ssential reading”
—New Statesman
American Insurgents presents an indispensable history of
anti-imperialist movements in the United States. . . . Seymour
shatters a whole host of standard misconceptions about resistance
to overseas adventures, refuting the common portrait of a US public
apathetic to the crimes of its government in foreign lands. . . .
The book is illuminated by the courageous and inspiring voices of
US anti-imperialists, from Frederick Douglass to Muhammad Ali to
current opponents of recent US wars in the Middle East.”
Michael Schwartz, author, War Without End
In these times of international rebellion, [Richard Seymour] has
given us a tool with which to build a movement for a more just
world, both within and beyond our borders.”
Camilo Mejía, author, Road to ar-Ramadi
In the tradition of Howard Zinn's A People’s History of the United
States and Joe Allen’s Vietnam, Richard Seymour shows that US
imperialism has generated significant domestic opposition rooted in
grassroots movements for racial, economic, and social justice.”
Michael Letwin, founding member, New York City Labor Against the
War and Labor for Palestine
Praise for Liberal Defense of Murder
Richard Seymour’s obsessively researched, impressive first book
holds its place as the most authoritative historical analysis of
its kind”
Resurgence
[T]ruly impressive breadth and depth ... [providing] ... a new
European perspective and a warning on the left’s pragmatic and
ultimately shortsighted support for imperialist adventures”
Journal of American Studies
[A] powerful counter-blast against the monstrous regiment of
useful idiots’” who have contributed in recent decades to the
murderous mess of modern times”
Times of London
[A]n excellent antidote to the propagandists of the crisis of our
times”
Independent on Sunday
[T]imely, provocative and thought-provoking”
Independent
Among those who share responsibility for the carnage and chaos in
the Gulf are the useful idiots who gave the war intellectual cover
and attempted to lend it a liberal imprimatur. The more belligerent
they sounded the more bankrupt they became; the more strident their
voice the more craven their position
Richard Seymour expertly
traces their descent from humanitarian intervention to blatant
Islamophobia.”
Gary Younge
Indispensable
Seymour brilliantly uncovers the pre-history and
modern reality of the so-called pro-war Left.”
China Miéville
[E]ssential reading”
New Statesman
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