The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War |  | Author: James Bradley
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Category: Book
List Price: $29.99
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Seller: lisacatherinesbooks
Rating:  137 reviews
Sales Rank: 8273
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 400
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 6.3 x 1.5
ISBN: 0316008958
Dewey Decimal Number: 359.4
EAN: 9780316008952
ASIN: 0316008958
Publication Date: November 24, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
This is about the history in detail of the exchanges in between the Baron Kaneko and Theodore Roosevelt, written by James Bradley
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 137
 Bradley's Subtle Satire Many Missed July 6, 2010
Robert M. Perrine (Virginia Beach, VA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Bradley takes the veil off racial prejudice that shaped American history and, in doing so, helps explain America's difficulty (especially for "white" European descendants) in international dealings and assimilating races from all corners of the earth. Americans have journeyed from slavery, from segregation, to a black President, and Bradley shines light on that American journey, underscoring that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal," but then we hypocritically act in entirely different ways. Passed down through generations, race discrimination lies at the heart of many of America's most important decisions, and Bradley, using Teddy Roosevelt as his example, reveals this sad truth, a truth that has been hiding just beneath the surface of historical writings, a truth Bradley puts so adroitly into perspective. Missing that message, quite a few reviewers cast Bradley as un-American for slandering such a great President. And so it goes: much of our factual history is engulfed in these partisan shrouds bordering on the revisionist history that George Orwell in his "1984" foresaw. Bradley's book is also a subtle satire, i.e., Theodore Roosevelt, the very man who criticized the failure of non-white races to evolve, just never evolved in his thinking much past the times of slavery.
The Imperial Cruise July 1, 2010
Shopping in Michigan (Michigan)
The Imperial Cruise was a real eye opener for me and answered a lot of questions about how our foreign policy got so screwed up. Bradley has written an interesting and thoroughly researched book about a group of men who determined the course of American expansion into Asia. Too bad that didn't know much about Asia, it's history and it's people.... This should be required reading for Americans serious about understanding the facts behind late 19th and early 20th Century America. An amazing book...
TR's unintended consequences seen from Bradley's unique POV November 27, 2009
Margaret Shannon (Washington, DC)
35 out of 56 found this review helpful
From the sands of Iwo Jima (Flags of Our Fathers) and Chichi Jima (Flyboys) to the story (Imperial Cruise) of Theodore Roosevelt's worldview and an off-the-books bilateral agreement hidden not only from the U.S. Senate but from most undergraduate history curricula for a century, James Bradley sets sail on an imperial cruise through America's historical relationships in the Far East. This provocative, bold account is written not in the dispassionate voice of the professional historian, but in Bradley's own you-are-there voice, immediate and full of surprise. Bradley, the son of one of the six men who raised the American flag over Iwo Jima in 1945, asks simply why his father had to be there in the first place. His point of view will create nervousness in the hallowed halls of academia when the resident "experts" peer between the covers of The Imperial Cruise. Bradley's voice is no less authentic because it belongs to an unabashedly "amateur historian." (Amateur= one who loves)The Imperial Cruise is an absorbing narrative and an ideal, thought-provoking book for holiday giving.
They hate us for our genocidal imperialism March 21, 2010
An Audience of One (Seattle, Washington)
6 out of 11 found this review helpful
Any intelligent reader will come away with the realization that Theodore Roosevelt was a genocidal racist. The Teddy of actual history wasn't the namesake for the stuffed bear or the Night at the Museum Teddy, he was a dangerous nut who might have got on famously with Hitler had the two not quibbled over whose nation was the more pure example of 'Aryanism.'
Nor was Teddy Roosevelt an anomaly. On the contrary, though he was an 'accidental' president, he was also a product of his times. This book does not make ranting accusations against prominent and revered historical figures. It quotes their words directly, again and again, damning them for all time.
The author's literary device of swinging back and forth between the events of a boat trip and the larger historical narrative seems artificial at first, but by the end of the book, it helps you realize how 'hidden history' came to be hidden even from the eyes of the President's bewildered daughter.
The people of Asia already know the story of how Teddy Roosevelt talked softly of freedom and bludgeoned with a big stick of imperialism. It's time someone told the American people of what their government has been doing in their name.
Unintended consequences of a young nation excercising power November 26, 2009
M. Hillers (Seattle, WA USA)
28 out of 47 found this review helpful
My first James Bradley book. Very engaging writer. The topic was completely unknown to me and I will need to read more about this period in US and world history.
My take on this situation centers around two of my favorite topic; unintended consequences and race. Race has been discussed more openly in the past and I do not think it should be as swept under the rug as it is in today's politically correct atmosphere. Clearly an assessment of humanity needs to focus more on the individual then the race of the individual. This was clearly not the case in the period discussed in this book. Luckily we are all more 'advanced' now.
The unintended consequences of the actions of T Roosevelt and H Taft may very well have lead directly to WWII, the Chinese Revolution and Vietnam as the author seems to imply. However the progress made through interaction of peoples such as the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis and other events described in the book, are positive no matter the negative way that people are initially portrayed. The shame the US now (should) feel for the treatment of the Chinese immigrants has also resulted in a desire to not make those mistakes again. In other words we learn more by interaction then by inaction and sometimes only in hindsight can our action be judged.
I believe that the mistakes made (as described in this book) in trying to be an American Empire have lead the US to be a nation builder rather then an empire following WWII.
Obviously we as a nation still struggle with our role in the world and like all individuals and nations mistakes are still made. This book gives a great view into the mistakes made about a century ago; a very small time period for most of the world's nations. The author's extrapolation of events is very interesting.
There were more then a couple of places where the author seemed to go unnecessarily out of his way to show "Teddy" as inept or obsessed with race.
I will read James Bradley's other books.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 137
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