It is slow and plodding. I have been trying for months to finish it and I can't! Very little of this book makes any reference to the "Cruise."

"There are many humorous things in the world; among them, the white man's notion that he is less savage than the other savages," - Mark Twain

This book is about 'The Imperial Cruise" only as an introduction to the region and is more about 'A Secret History of Empire and War' as it tells the history of American racism and expansionism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries into the East.

Based on Roosevelt's own words, Bradley makes a compelling case that racist ideology and secret, unauthorized deal-making drove a foreign policy and militarism that led to genocide and regional conflict, and then sparked WWII.

The kind of history you don't learn about in high school.

Not always the most exciting and page turning read, but very informative and enjoyable, even if it does completely reshape how I view one of our most iconic presidents.

What a disappointment. I didn't like Brdley's writing style, his willingness to so quickly jump to massive conclusions, his story-telling abilities and his characterizations.

It could have been an interesting story with some valuble insight. But it wasn't.

This was a book that was hard to dislike because it at least talked about the American Empire, and its consequences. Books on this topic, at least in this country and this widely available, are few and far between, much less books taking a critical stance. Were this a book on the American Empire it would be a very intriguing read. It is however a work on the causes of the Pacific War of 1941-1945, and Bradley's focus varies chapter to chapter from condemnation of colonial prejudices, to racial tensions without tying them back in to his goal very clearly, or very well. However what Bradley does, he does well, and aside from some glaring errors, it was sentence by sentence a well written if not a very well tied together book.

"None of human history really meant much if racial history were not thoroughly understood first." -Theodore Rooseveldt

While Teddy wrote that quote to emphasize his total agreement with the Mein Kampf-like racist philosophy that is Manifest Destiny, which explains Teutons (Caucasians) inherited the earth because of their innate goodness and utter superiority in everything physical mental and moral, the quote is as apt an analysis for why this book is important.

To really understand why Teddy did what he did in his political life (and his personal life) we must fully understand his philosophical comfort with racist, bigoted and misogynistic beliefs. One of the early chapters goes into great detail with Aryanist racist philosophy and mythology, Teddy's childhood and higher education being chambers of inculcation into this way of thinking, and he remaking of his image into something that resembles someone who could be seen as a champion of heroes of that mythology. And from there, the decisions he makes about the mission of this cruise become more clearly understood.

With stop after stop on the cruise, it becomes successively clearer how racist illogic dictated America's (via Taft's via Teddy's) every move, destroyed civilizations, murdered hundreds of thousands of men women & children, and crippled Asia-USA relations for over a century, and counting.

To paraphrase the author in his postscript, it was surprising that he was the researcher who, after over a century, became the first to shine the spotlight on Theodore Rooseveldt's Hitler-esque racism, when all the information was sitting in plain sight all along waiting for anyone to access it and write the truth. That he was the first to present this vitally important information which will help us put American history in a more correct assessment, says a lot about the whitewashing of US history.

While an overused phrase, this is a book that everyone should read. Well, at least every American should read it. It's that significant.

Very interesting read. Learned some good stuff about Teddy Roosevelt. Mostly that he was a flaming racist.

I enjoy James Bradley's books and this one is no exception. I hadn't really studied this period or area of history and it is very interesting to see how the US became entangled in Asia. It has made me curtail a little of my complaining about Korea.