This seminar reassesses American imperial history from 1783 to 1945 and traces its aftermath up to the invasion of Iraq. It will argue that the conventional label of an ‘American empire’ describing the USA during the era of superpower dominance after 1945 is a misnomer: the real ‘American empire’ was acquired in 1898 and dismantled after the Second World War.
Antony G. Hopkins was Smuts Professor of Common wealth History at Cambridge and is currently Emeritus Fellow of Pembroke College. He has written about African history, imperial history, and globalization, and is currently completing a book on the history of the USA. His major publications include Globalization in World History (2002), British Imperialism, 1688–2000 (1993, coauthored with Peter J. Cain), and An Economic History of West Africa (1973).
