"Uncle Sam's War of 1898 and the Origins of Globalization examines the growth of the American empire from its early nationhood to its first global military conflict. As the fledgling nation's military, industrial, and economic strength developed, the United States created policies designed to protect itself from challenges beyond its borders. According to Schoonover, a surge in U.S. activity in the Gulf-Caribbean and in Central America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was catalyzed by the same avarice and competitiveness that motivated European adventurers to seek a route to Asia centuries earlier." "Schoonover locates the origins of American globalization and expansionism in the Spanish-American War. American involvement in the War of 1898, he argues, reflects many of the fundamental patterns of our national history - exploration and discovery, labor exploitation, violence, racism, class conflict, and concern for security - that have shaped America's course since the nineteenth century. Uncle Sam's War of 1898 and the Origins of Globalization is the first work to identify the source of the United States' economic, political, and social policies abroad - and the actions that established it as the only remaining superpower."--Jacket.