Over the past 250 years, historian Thaddeus Russell argues in his bold and eye-opening new book, America has projected two opposing forces abroad: one imperial and the other liberating. Contrary to the common view that the Founders were isolationists, he contends that they envisioned a global empire—and that, ever since, the nation has cast itself as a savior, claiming a mission to uplift the world and impose the American way of life through armed force. Simultaneously, Russell shows, the global spread of American popular culture emerged as one of modern history’s most subversive forces—an existential threat to authoritarian regimes that was frequently more destabilizing than military intervention, yet free of the violent blowback that typically accompanies foreign intrusion.

Russell’s striking narrative extends earlier portrayals of America’s imperial ambition. He argues that the Civil War and Reconstruction were a colonial project by the North to conquer a seceded sovereign territory and remake it in the North’s image. He shows that while progressive ideals helped justify U.S. military rule in the Philippines after the Spanish-American War, the jazz introduced by American soldiers in Manila nightclubs had a deeper and more enduring global impact. He contends that U.S. entry into World War II was driven less by defensive or humanitarian imperatives than by imperial calculation—making two regional conflicts into a global war—and that it ensured the culmination of the Holocaust. He also documents how authoritarian regimes, from the Soviet Union to contemporary Iran, have been eroded from within by “the American way of life.” Finally, he argues that Donald Trump has not withdrawn the United States from the world so much as reframed its imperial mission: from the progressive export of ideals to a more openly territorial and transactional assertion of power.

As elegantly written and impeccably documented as it is provocative, chronicling familiar characters as well as those lost to history, Russell adds a vitally important addition to our national narrative, shining an electric new light on our nation’s relationship to the wider world.

Praise for A Renegade History of The United States:

“Revisionist history at its best . . . Imagining what life would be like today if people throughout history had only sacrificed themselves for the ‘good’ of the community, [Russell] suggests we side with the renegades when the guardians of the social order try to keep them down, and that we take more liberties.”—Guardian

“[A] rollicking and sure-to-be-controversial history of our great nation.”—Metro-Boston

“It’s always fascinating spending time with a devil’s advocate, and Russell is one of the best. You’ll shout at this book endlessly, but you won’t be able to put it down, for its chock full of startling, upsetting, and entertaining anecdotes.”—The Scotsman

“This lively, contrarian work [is] . . . A sharp, lucid, entertaining view of the ‘bad’ American past.”—Kirkus, starred review

“A work of history like no other—a bold, controversial, original view of American history that will amuse, inspire, outrage, and most of all instruct readers.”—Alan Brinkley, Allan Nevins Professor of History, Columbia University, and author of The Publisher and American History: A Survey

“Thaddeus Russell gives us a new pantheon of American heroes, and argues that those who expanded the realm of desire—for sex, for drugs, for illicit experiences—were the very ones who created our liberties. This is a controversial book, but certainly not a dull one.”—Elliott Gorn, Professor of American Civilization and History, Brown University, and author of Dillinger’s Wild Ride

“Thaddeus Russell has broken free of the ideological prisons of Left and Right to give us a real, flesh-and-blood history of America, filled with untold stories and unlikely heroes . . . This wonderful book follows the best American traditions of iconoclasm and—what is the same thing—truth-telling.”—Thomas E. Woods, Jr., author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History

“Howard Zinn wrote The People’s History of the United States. But Thaddeus Russell has written the history of the American People Whom Historians Would Rather Forget . . . There is no understanding of American feminism, sexual liberation, civil rights, or dancing in the streets without this careful analysis that Russell has put before us.”—Susie Bright, syndicated columnist, author of The Sexual State of the Union, and series editor, Best American Erotica

“Thaddeus Russell is a troublemaker for sure. Whether you call his book courageous or outrageous, his helter-skelter tour through the American past will make you gasp and make you question—as he does—the writing of ‘history as usual.’”—Nancy Cott, Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History, Harvard University, and author of Public Vows

“Raucous, profane, and thrillingly original, Thaddeus Russell’s A Renegade History of the United States turns the myths of the ‘American character’ on their heads with a rare mix of wit, scholarship, and storytelling flair.”—Steven Johnson, author of Everything Bad is Good for You and The Invention of Air