Description
Book SynopsisExamines the key role that the spatial construct (embodied by the Monroe Doctrine) of the western hemisphere played in enabling and effacing U.S. empire.
Trade Review“
Hemispheric Imaginings makes an articulate, original argument for the centrality of the Monroe Doctrine to the nineteenth-century imagination. Gretchen Murphy’s exploration of the cultural influence of the Monroe Doctrine, above and beyond its political effects, is long overdue.”—Kirsten Silva Gruesz, author of
Ambassadors of Culture: The Transamerican Origins of Latino Writing“In these times of increasing attention to imperialism, protectionism, and U. S. intervention around the world, Gretchen Murphy’s study of the political and cultural articulations of the Monroe Doctrine is not only welcome but also important reading. Murphy provides an insightful genealogy of how a ‘principle’ first affirmed by James Monroe came to be a cornerstone of American diplomacy and military action; at the same time, she provides a model reading of how an ideological concept was developed and sustained.”—Susan Jeffords, author of
Hard Bodies: Hollywood Masculinity in the Reagan Era“To historians, this book offers an interesting example of the interplay among literature, foreign policy, and the construction of national imaginings. . . . This book is a welcome contribution to the field of transnational studies of the United States. . . .
Hemispheric Imaginings provides historians of international relations new propositions to reflect upon.” -- Ricardo D. Salvatore * Diplomatic History *
Table of ContentsPreface vii
Introduction: Writing the Hemisphere 1
1. Separate (Hemi)Spheres: John Quincy Adams, Lydia Maria Child, and the Domestic Ideology of the Monroe Doctrine 32
2. Selling Jim Crow from Salem to Yokohama 62
3. Geographic Morality and the New World 97
4. Gringos Abroad: Rationalizing Empire with Richard Harding Davis 119
Conclusion: The Remains of the Doctrine 145
Notes 159
Bibliography 171
Index 185
