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Chapter 3 - Empire

from Part I - Fractures and Continuities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2022

Justine S. Murison
Affiliation:
University of Illinois
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Summary

This essay situates the rise of US empire in the nineteenth century within a longer, transnational, and transoceanic colonial project that has been continuously catastrophic – from the arrival of Columbus to the threats of climate change and nuclear disaster – for both Indigenous societies and nonhuman ecosystems. The essay shows how such ecological and geopolitical disruptions were central to both US nation-building and the development of an American national literature, while at the same time highlighting the causal relation and essential continuity between the extractive enterprises and imperial expansionism of the early United States and the planetary crises of the twenty-first century.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Empire
  • Edited by Justine S. Murison, University of Illinois
  • Book: American Literature in Transition, 1820–1860
  • Online publication: 09 June 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108566872.005
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  • Empire
  • Edited by Justine S. Murison, University of Illinois
  • Book: American Literature in Transition, 1820–1860
  • Online publication: 09 June 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108566872.005
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Empire
  • Edited by Justine S. Murison, University of Illinois
  • Book: American Literature in Transition, 1820–1860
  • Online publication: 09 June 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108566872.005
Available formats
×