Ink & Time is pleased to announce the publication of Against Empire: Patriotic Dissent for America’s 250th.
It’s The Anti-Imperialist Reader you need to fill in the gaps in the historical narrative, and grasp the origins of America’s dominant role in the world: when it started; how decisions were made; those who opposed; and what it has meant in the subsequent 125 years.
We're making the first 250 copies available at a special promotional price for a limited time through the holiday weekend. Click below to order:
The Paperback is great value at $15
You can get it on Kindle for $5
Go for the Collectible Hardcover edition at $22, If you’re a diehard anti-imperialist
The anthology contains 36 original writings from 22 prominent intellectuals from the US and the Philippines, along with a contextual Introduction, Biographical Directory of contributors, Timeline of the Anti-Imperialist movement, Afterword on the evolution of empire, and Recommended Further Readings. See below for full contents.
If you’re hungry for fresh perspective, tired of received wisdom, or just a little curious, we encourage you to grab a copy on 3rd or 4th July before prices are adjusted upwards.
When you read and reflect on these works, you’ll be the centre of conversation at your Fourth of July parties. Or any time you find yourself discussing America's role in the world.
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Here's what you'll find inside...
Against Empire: The Anti-Imperialist Reader
Platform of the American Anti-Imperialist League (1899): The foundational manifesto declaring that the subjugation of foreign peoples fundamentally violates the principles of the Declaration of Independence.
Carl Schurz, "The Issue of Imperialism": A forceful warning from a former Union general that annexing the Philippines would destroy the republic's moral standing and constitutional integrity.
Carl Schurz, "The Policy of Imperialism": An expanded critique arguing that maintaining an overseas empire requires a standing army and centralized power incompatible with democratic self-government.
William Graham Sumner, "The Conquest of the United States by Spain": A provocative essay asserting that by adopting the imperial tactics of its defeated enemy, America had effectively been conquered by the very Old World values it claimed to oppose.
Andrew Carnegie, "Distant Possessions": The industrialist's pragmatic argument that holding distant territories would drain national resources and entangle the United States in endless foreign conflicts.
Andrew Carnegie, "Americanism versus Imperialism": A defense of traditional American non-interventionism against the rising tide of militaristic expansion.
Charles Francis Adams, "Imperialism and the Tracks of Our Forefathers": A historical reflection by the descendant of presidents, contrasting the wisdom of the founders with the reckless ambition of the new imperialists.
William Jennings Bryan, "Republic or Empire? The Philippine Question": The populist leader's impassioned plea to voters to reject the temptation of empire and remain true to the republic's democratic soul.
David Starr Jordan, "Imperial Democracy": The Stanford president's sharp analysis of how imperial adventures inevitably corrupt domestic democratic institutions.
Samuel Gompers, "Imperialism: Its Dangers and Wrongs": The labor leader's argument that overseas conquest primarily benefits corporate monopolies while undermining the wages and rights of American workers.
Jane Addams, "Democracy or Militarism": The pioneering social reformer's warning that the brutalizing habits of empire abroad would inevitably poison civic life at home.
Lucia Ames Mead, "Patriotism and the New Internationalism": A visionary call to redefine patriotism not as military dominance, but as moral leadership and international cooperation.
W. E. B. Du Bois, "The Present Outlook for the Dark Races of Mankind": A penetrating analysis connecting American imperialism abroad with the ongoing system of racial subjugation within the United States.
William James, "The Philippine Tangle": The philosopher's early, urgent diagnosis of the moral confusion and psychological delusion driving the American war in the Philippines.
William James, "Address on the Philippine Question": A critique of how the nation had "regurgitated the Declaration of Independence" to join the global scramble for empire.
Mark Twain, "To the Person Sitting in Darkness": A blistering, widely read satire exposing the hypocrisy of Western nations bringing "civilization" to the developing world at the point of a bayonet.
Mark Twain, "To My Missionary Critics": A sharp defense of his earlier essays, skewering the religious justifications routinely used to mask imperial greed.
Mark Twain, "A Defence of General Funston": A heavily ironic "defense" that actually eviscerates the American general who captured Emilio Aguinaldo through deception and treachery.
Mark Twain, "King Leopold's Soliloquy": A dark, imaginative monologue in which the King of Belgium inadvertently confesses to his horrific crimes in the Congo, broadening the critique to global imperialism.
Mark Twain, "The War Prayer": A profound, haunting short story, unpublished in his lifetime, that strips away the patriotic romance of war to reveal its underlying brutality.
Mark Twain, "Comments on the Moro Massacre": A furious, unvarnished reaction to the slaughter of hundreds of men, women, and children by American troops in the Philippines.
William Dean Howells, "Editha": A classic short story skewering the romantic, jingoistic delusions that send young men marching off to senseless wars.
Finley Peter Dunne, "Mr. Dooley" (Selected Columns): Brilliant dialect satire that cut through the political rhetoric of the day with the grounded skepticism of a Chicago bartender.
Ernest Howard Crosby, "Swords and Plowshares": Selections from the pacifist poet who used verse to challenge the glorification of military conquest.
William Vaughn Moody, "An Ode in Time of Hesitation": A celebrated poem contrasting the noble sacrifice of the Civil War with the dishonorable conquest of the Philippines.
William Vaughn Moody, "On a Soldier Fallen in the Philippines": A sorrowful lyric reflecting on the tragic waste of American lives in an unjust colonial war.
Too-qua-stee (DeWitt Clinton Duncan), "The White Man's Burden": A Cherokee poet's powerful, firsthand rebuttal to Rudyard Kipling, pointing out the devastation wrought by America's own "civilizing" mission.
Edgar Lee Masters (as Dexter Wallace), "The Blood of the Prophets": Early, fiery verse from the future author of Spoon River Anthology, condemning the nation's betrayal of its founding ideals.
Emilio Aguinaldo, "The Case Against the United States": The leader of the Philippine Republic lays out a clear legal and moral argument against American betrayal and annexation.
Sixto López, "The Tribes in the Philippines": A Filipino diplomat's effort to humanize his people to the American public and counter the racist justifications used to legitimize conquest.
Clemencia López, "Women of the Philippines": A pioneering address by a Filipina activist challenging American audiences to recognize the civilized dignity of the people they were fighting.
Apolinario Mabini, "La Verdadera Revolución Filipina: Manifesto & Prólogo": The "Brains of the Revolution" articulates the philosophical and political foundations of the Filipino struggle for independence.
Apolinario Mabini, "What Is the True Mission of the Philippine Revolution?": A visionary essay defining the revolution not merely as a war against Spain or America, but as a movement for human dignity and universal rights.
