A Book Review of Racism in U.S. Imperialism: The Influence of Racial Assumptions on American Foreign Policy, 1893-1946

Abstract

This book review presents a thorough analysis and dissection of Rubin Francis Weston’s 1972 book, Racism in U.S. Imperialism: The Influence of Racial Assumptions on American Foreign Policy, 1893–1946, which has become a mainstay reference work about the intersection of race and American policymaking. Using archival research vis-à-vis detailed analysis of primary sources as its principal methodology, Weston endeavors to fill a lacuna in the literature that substantiates the prevailing and undeniable conception that race and American imperialism are inextricably intertwined. The book critically engages with its readers as it explores the backstage of American imperialist preoccupations across the Pacific region (Hawaii and the Philippines) and the Caribbean (Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola). In sum, despite its built-in shortcomings, Weston’s observations and interpretations regarding the racial aspects of American imperialism are important to the field’s historiography, as they planted the appropriate seeds that serve as the foundation for future research.