Colossus: The Rise And Fall Of The American Empire (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
Though this book was written in 2003, it comes across as some what dated. It spends a great deal looking at the balance of power in the then present as it seeks to justify the benevolence of the American Empire, alluding that perhaps if not for it, then calamity would befall the World. I do for the most part enjoy Ferguson, he has produced a large body of work on a variety of interesting subjects. I have read, listened and watched a great deal of his productive efforts and I can say that he is fun and engaging with an attractive narrative style. I feel however though due to his popularity and broad appeal that this book like others seems to lack a certain depth.The book does not cover the unintended consequences of blow back nor does it go into any real detail in much of the blatant militancy of American Colonial Imperialism. It over looks much of the subterfuge, intrigue and maliciousness and seems only to dance around looking at the real politik of Cold War power struggles, weighing up the great strengths of 'Americanism' in places of the World yet to be blessed by it. While this is a mostly historical book which attempts to cover some of the past colonial and imperial actions of the USA, it does so with a very limited scope. I personally would have preferred a more in depth look at American historical Imperialism both distant and more recent. This in my opinion would have allowed the reader a greater insight into the actual history. Instead Ferguson spends a great deal of the book justifying American Imperial benevolence as contrasted to other 'Empires'. Now while it may be true that compared to some Imperial Powers that the USA is by far more lenient and often seemingly beneficial to the subjugated, does this therefore justify Colonialism and Interventionism in its many tiers? For Ferguson that answer is seemingly, Yes. I do not like to criticise a historian of Ferguson's talents and level of knowledge but this book seemed some what confused and rushed at times. It was some what critical in a very subtle way while on the whole some what supportive in the adventurism of the American Empire. Yet it never gave any follow up to historical examples, though when it did they were brief and unconvincing. For example that of South Korea, was the fact that it took South Korea forty years to mature into a liberal democracy due to an American military presence or not ? Clearly the fact that it took so long to reach this point could be argued against American occupation and its blatant support of dictatorships opposed to the Soviets or enemies of the time...yet this is never an argument addressed by Ferguson. Instead he seemingly praises the fact that it eventually turned away from a dictatorship due to the long term presence of American military forces. And yet even now, despite this transition, the forces remain.Like all of his works, this book is well sourced with a considerable amount of notes and reference material. Something lacking in a great deal of books of this type. That being said Ferguson still lacks a deeper historical presentation in this book. I feel that this may be due to his interest to perhaps push a NeoCon agenda? To justify the then jingoistic exuberance present in the early days of the 'War on Terror' or simply because it was written for the popular seller shelf and not for those interested in harder reading ? In any case for me this harms the book. On the whole this is a book that I think would be enjoyed by Ferguson fans or for those who lack an in depth knowledge on the subject. And naturally for people who support colonialism, so long as they are the Romans and all of those who believe that 'America' is Number One in everything. For those untainted by such bias I would suggest that it be read with a balance of other books on the matter. Though I did enjoy this book at times, despite reading it sporadically over a long period of time, I can not say that I learned anything from it or gained any new insight. 58 %
This is my 3rd book among to the 50 that are classified as HISTORY books in 501 MUST READ BOOKS by Bounty Books (2006; UK). Like the previous two: HIROSHIMA by John Hersey (1946) and CHE GUEVARA: A REVOLUTIONARY LIFE by John Lee Anderson (1997), I enjoyed this a lot too. In the 501 INTRODUCTION, the publisher explained that these 50 history books are so different in terms of style and context and yet, if you were to read every title recommended here you would have a phenomenal understanding of, and perspective on the known history of the world and our 21st century in it continuum (pp 7). However, more than the first two books, this one is full of new knowledge for me that I spent 4 days to finish a 300-page book. I have not been closely following world's news especially when I was younger specially what happened in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. This book, COLOSSUS: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE, summarized the American interventions in those wars they participated in as world's police. This includes the Israel-Egypt war that happened when I was busy studying my college degree in the early 80's and the Iraq-Iran and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait when I was busy starting my career at the later part of that decade. Now, I understand what PLO was, the background of why the US befriended Israel, why Bush was decisive in freeing Kuwait, etc. These things I might not be able to learn if I limit my reading choices with novels however good and entertaining they may be.Speaking of fictions, Ferguson made use quite heavily of references to Mark Bowen's BLACK HAWK DOWN and Graham Greene's THE QUIET AMERICAN. Proof that though fictions or semi-fiction (in the case of Black Hawk) can also be informative but of course not as effective as when you read a history book.Written in June 2003 and published in the 2005, it is very interesting that Ferguson was able to give a hint of the eventual "fall" of the US that is actually what is happening now, i.e., the global recession. The beauty of reading a history book is in the expanding of one's knowledge and even watching CNN yesterday morning gave me a deeper appreciation of what is going on in the US. The CNN announcer was saying that the US cut 85,000 jobs last month (December) and the worst is still to come before it bottoms out. Relating that to the book, on Ferguson's conclusion of the book, the US as a empire (though in denial) has become the world's biggest borrow when the ideal should have been that an empire should be a creditor. Ferguson also explained that there should be an event (which on the hindsight should be the global recession) that would weaken the US position as an empire. Then this will finally result to a situation he calls as "apolarity" wherein there will be no empire at all and the world's police role will be co-shared by many countries.There are many other interesting theories and well-presented analysis Ferguson included in this book and enjoyed them tremendously. It is like taking a crash course on World's History on empires from several centuries ago to the current ones. There are even references to the American occupation of the Philippines so it made my reading truly worthwhile.Good job, Mr. Niall Ferguson!
What do You think about Colossus: The Rise And Fall Of The American Empire (2005)?
This book made me nostalgic of the good ol' days of Western imperialism. Ah, nothing like waking up to the markets of the former Ottoman Empire, sampling the Asian teas from the top of a pagoded camel, smiling at your Mohammedean fez-headed domestic servant condescendingly... ahh... Apparently, Imperialism can be a good thing. Countries of old British colonialism were given decent infrastructures (in exchange for total subserviance), not to mention America's two big post-occupied nations of Japan and Germany... Ferguson, after going through an exciting history of America's imperial escapades up to World War II, gives the reader a good sense of post World War II America as the almost-Empire--always nervous to utter the "E"-word, always one foot in and one foot out of the pool. "We're going to leave any time now" seems to be the American mantra Day 1 of any occupation. Ferguson was actually able to sway my personal stance on the Iraq war, though it would not be a popular opinion among most Post-Mid-Term Election Americans. Unfortunately, the last third of the book lags as Ferguson begins to show the economic side of imperialism, and me, not one for the numbers, was admittingly a bit lost. Still, a good book to learn about Free Trade, Liberal Empires, and somber realities.
—Joeji
Niall Ferguson's account of how America became a "liberal empire" - replacing the British one - and how she can keep that status is sadly out of date by now. Ferguson predicts in this book that if anything will keep America from fulfilling it's basically benign role in the world, it's the government's insane fiscal policies and enormous deficit. If anything, things now are far worse (the book was written in 2003) what with the Obama administration's health care scam, bailout poncy schemes, and increased deficit spending. It was a nice run while it lasted, and Ferguson teaches us why modern American "imperialism" could have been a force for good. As always, he's a superb writer and this and his gifts for the facts makes his books worth reading.
—Jonathan
It is difficult for me to give such a low ranking to this book because the history within the book was quite well done. I agree that the United States has been an empire since the Spanish-American War and became a global economic empire in the aftermath of World War II. Indeed, Ferguson could have elaborated on American actions in Central America during the twentieth century to show how the statements that America is not an empire is a rather transparent lie.However, the turn Colossus takes in t
—Dennis
