The Un-read
I started reading this book by Niall Ferguson titled Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire . The first quote in the book was by Thomas Jefferson and I loved it: “Old Europe will have to lean on our shoulders, and to hobble along by our side, under the monkish trammels of priests and kings, as she can.” How prophetic! The reason I picked up the book was that I don’t consider America an empire; so I was curious. Ferguson seemed to know most readers wouldn’t either, so he went to extraordinary lengths to change the definition of empire from what the British/Spanish/French had to, well, something. It didn’t make any sense and my eyes glazed. Then he quoted American military bases in Japan and Germany as signs of an empire. Really? Did Ferguson check whether the Japanese wanted the US to leave so they could be walked over by the Soviets first and the Chinese today? If you really want a foreign army on your soil, it’s not called an occupation. As you might have gu...