Empire and Liberty

“An inspired lens through which to view our standing as a nation.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Empire and Liberty explores this oxymoron and its centrality to American identity by historicizing New York’s Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty. Vaneesa Cook combines rigorous research with fluid exposition to tell an original and imaginative story that has been hiding in plain sight. It is a story of inspiration and tragedy. It is a story that must be read, now more than ever.”
—Richard H. Immerman, author of Empire for Liberty: A History of American Imperialism from Benjamin Franklin to Paul Wolfowitz

“Cook’s Empire and Liberty takes a leading place among the refreshing new histories of monuments and their fascinating role in American politics and culture. Her book offers a sweeping account of how the themes of empire and liberty weave throughout US history—sometimes clashing and sometimes enhancing each other. An engaging and enlightening history!”
—Elizabeth Borgwardt, author of A New Deal for the World

“In this elegant book, Vaneesa Cook tells the story of two American icons and the contested ideals that they represent. At a moment when liberty is in peril and American empire faces criticism at home and abroad, Cook offers a gripping history not only of monument builders but also the visionaries, rebels, and ordinary citizens who have imagined, contested, and reimagined what it means to be American.”
—Thomas J. Sugrue, author of Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North

“Vaneesa Cook has given us a dual biography of penetrating intelligence and urgent relevance to every citizen. Her characters, so to speak, are the skyscraper that exudes imperial ambition and the statue that espouses democratic idealism. And in Cook’s deft and lucid telling, these structures become the vying forces within the American national character.”
—Samuel Freedman, author of Into the Bright Sunshine: Young Hubert Humphrey and the Fight for Civil Rights

“Cook is a thoughtful scholar and has captured the dilemmas of our current moment in historical terms.”
—Paul Buhle, coauthor of A People’s History of American Empire: A Graphic Adaptation

“Vaneesa Cook’s captivating and beautifully written history of New York City’s two most iconic structures unmasks the great American contradiction, which Thomas Jefferson unintentionally expressed when he described a rapidly expanding United States as an Empire of Liberty: Empire is a pretty lousy conduit to freedom.”
—Andrew Hartman, author of Karl Marx in America

“American history is a continuing struggle to define the meaning of liberty and empire for each generation. Vaneesa Cook paints a beautiful and revealing picture of the different ways Americans have imagined what their country can be. She builds her narrative around two common national symbols, and she shows how they can help us imagine a new America today. This is a book that every citizen who cares about democracy should read.”
—Jeremi Suri, author of Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy

“The circumstances of the present day mandate that students and citizens alike understand not only the symbols of American power but also the consequences of that power. Vaneesa Cook’s Empire and Liberty demonstrates that American history is a shared history that must include both our aspirations as well as the hard realities that dictate the regular course of everyday life.”
—Dr. Michael D. Gambone, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania

“In Empire and Liberty, Vaneesa Cook does a double service to students and teachers of the modern history of the United States. First, she presents a beautifully written account of how the evolving perceptions of two of the country’s most iconic landmarks reveal the constant tug of war between Americans’ thirst for democracy and temptation to forcefully impose their way of life on the rest of the world. Second, she offers up an eminently readable and fast-paced text that instructors can confidently assign as an alternative textbook for undergraduate survey courses. By anchoring its telling of the history of the United States since the Civil War in the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty—monuments familiar to every reader—Empire and Liberty meets students where they are at and helps them better understand the interplay between local, national, and international developments that has shaped the nation in the last century and a half.”
—Sean Dinces, author of Bulls Markets: Chicago’s Basketball Business and the New Inequality