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The imperial cruise
Bradley, James
Adult Fiction 973.911 B 2009b
From Publishers' Weekly:
Theodore Roosevelt steers America onto the shoals of imperialism in this stridently disapproving study of early 20th-century U.S. policy in Asia. Bestselling author of Flags of Our Fathers, Bradley traces a 1905 voyage to Asia by Roosevelt's emissary William Howard Taft, who negotiated a secret agreement in which America and Japan recognized each other's conquests of the Philippines and Korea. (Roosevelt's flamboyant, pistol-packing daughter Alice went along to generate publicity, and Bradley highlights her antics.) Each port of call prompts a case study of American misdeeds: the brutal counterinsurgency in the Philippines; the takeover of Hawaii by American sugar barons; Roosevelt's betrayal of promises to protect Korea, which "greenlighted" Japanese expansionism and thus makes him responsible for Pearl Harbor. Bradley explores the racist underpinnings of Roosevelt's policies and paradoxical embrace of the Japanese as "Honorary Aryans." Bradley's critique of Rooseveltian imperialism is compelling but unbalanced. He doesn't explain how Roosevelt could have evicted the Japanese from Korea, and insinuates that the Japanese imperial project was the brainstorm of American advisers. Ironically, his view of Asian history, like Roosevelt's, denies agency to the Asians themselves. Photos, maps. One-day laydown. (Nov. 24) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
From Library Journal:
Bradley, whose Flyboys (2004) was an LJ Best Seller, here uses President Theodore Roosevelt's 1905 diplomatic mission to Asia to describe the United States' rise as a player in the Pacific and East Asia. Actor/narrator Richard Poe reads this unflattering picture of our country and former President with nuance, his voice full of confidence and authority. For those wanting a nonsugarcoated version of the events that set the stage for World War II. [The Little, Brown hc was recommended for "anyone interested in American history," LJ 11/15/09.-Ed.]-Michael T. Fein, Central Virginia Community Coll. Lib., Lynchburg (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Bradley, James
Adult Fiction 973.911 B 2009b
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From Publishers' Weekly:
Theodore Roosevelt steers America onto the shoals of imperialism in this stridently disapproving study of early 20th-century U.S. policy in Asia. Bestselling author of Flags of Our Fathers, Bradley traces a 1905 voyage to Asia by Roosevelt's emissary William Howard Taft, who negotiated a secret agreement in which America and Japan recognized each other's conquests of the Philippines and Korea. (Roosevelt's flamboyant, pistol-packing daughter Alice went along to generate publicity, and Bradley highlights her antics.) Each port of call prompts a case study of American misdeeds: the brutal counterinsurgency in the Philippines; the takeover of Hawaii by American sugar barons; Roosevelt's betrayal of promises to protect Korea, which "greenlighted" Japanese expansionism and thus makes him responsible for Pearl Harbor. Bradley explores the racist underpinnings of Roosevelt's policies and paradoxical embrace of the Japanese as "Honorary Aryans." Bradley's critique of Rooseveltian imperialism is compelling but unbalanced. He doesn't explain how Roosevelt could have evicted the Japanese from Korea, and insinuates that the Japanese imperial project was the brainstorm of American advisers. Ironically, his view of Asian history, like Roosevelt's, denies agency to the Asians themselves. Photos, maps. One-day laydown. (Nov. 24) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
From Library Journal:
Bradley, whose Flyboys (2004) was an LJ Best Seller, here uses President Theodore Roosevelt's 1905 diplomatic mission to Asia to describe the United States' rise as a player in the Pacific and East Asia. Actor/narrator Richard Poe reads this unflattering picture of our country and former President with nuance, his voice full of confidence and authority. For those wanting a nonsugarcoated version of the events that set the stage for World War II. [The Little, Brown hc was recommended for "anyone interested in American history," LJ 11/15/09.-Ed.]-Michael T. Fein, Central Virginia Community Coll. Lib., Lynchburg (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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