Podcast Episode 84: The True Flag and American Imperialism

Stephen Kinzer has written a number of marvelous books, and his latest The True Flag is no exception. Kinzer argues that the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the debates that swirled about the future of American policy at the time are the origins of our modern imperial impulse. There is some truth to this, but I also think that we have to go back fifty years before that to the James K. Polk administration and his desire to acquire California. I talk about Kinzer, Polk, diplomatic history, and the roots of American imperialism in this episode.