Empire As A Way of Life: An Essay on the Causes and Character of America's Present Predicament Along with a Few Thoughts about an Alternative

“An unblinkered look at our imperial past . . . a perceptive work by one of our most perceptive historians.”—Studs Terkel

A work of remarkable prescience, Empire As A Way of Life is influential historian William Appleman Williams’s groundbreaking work highlighting imperialism—“empire as a way of life”—as the dominant theme in American history. Analyzing U.S. history from its revolutionary origins to the dawn of the Reagan era, Williams shows how America has always been addicted to empire in its foreign and domestic ideology. Detailing the imperial actions and beliefs of revered figures such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, this book is the most in-depth historical study of the American obsession with empire, and is essential to understanding the origins of our current foreign and domestic undertakings.

Back in print for the first time in twenty-five years, this new edition features an introduction by Andrew Bacevich, author of The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War and American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy.

William Appleman Williams (1921-1990) was one of the 20th century's most prominent historians of American diplomacy. His The Tragedy of American Diplomacy is often described as one of the most influential books written on American foreign policy, and Empire As A Way of Life is considered a seminal work on the study of American imperialism. Andrew J. Bacevich is a professor of international relations at Boston University, former director of its Center for International Relations (from 1998 to 2005), and author of several books, including the recently published The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War (2005) and American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of US Diplomacy (2002).