A Great and Rising Nation: Naval Exploration and Global Empire in the Early US Republic

A Great and Rising Nationilluminates the unexplored early decades of the United States' imperialist naval aspirations.

Conventional wisdom holds that, until the Spanish-American War of 1898, the United States was a feeble player on the world stage, with an international presence rooted in commerce rather than military might. Michael A. Verney'sA Great and Rising Nationflips this notion on its head, arguing that early US naval expeditions, often characterized as merely scientific, were in fac...