America is a smuggler nation. Our long history of illicit imports has ranged from West Indies molasses and Dutch gunpowder in the 18th century; to British industrial technologies and African slaves in the 19th century; to French condoms and Canadian booze in the early 20th century; to Mexican workers and Colombian cocaine in the modern era. Contraband capitalism; it turns out; has been an integral part of American capitalism.Providing a sweeping narrative history from colonial times to the present; Smuggler Nation is now available in paperback to retell the story of America -- and of its engagement with its neighbors and the rest of the world -- as a series of highly contentious battles over clandestine commerce. As Peter Andreas demonstrates in this provocative and fascinating work; smuggling has played a pivotal and too often overlooked role in America's birth; westward expansion; and economic development; while anti-smuggling campaigns have dramatically enhanced the federal government's policing powers. The great irony; Andreas tells us; is that a country that was born and grew up through smuggling is today the world's leading anti-smuggling crusader. In tracing America's long and often tortuous relationship with the murky underworld of smuggling; Andreas provides a much-needed antidote to today's hyperbolic depictions of out-of-control borders and growing global crime threats. Urgent calls by politicians and pundits to regain control of the nation's borders suffer from a severe case of historical amnesia; nostalgically implying that they were ever actually under control. This is pure mythology; says Andreas. For better and for worse; America's borders have always been highly porous. Far from being a new and unprecedented danger to America; the illicit underside of globalization is actually an old American tradition. As Andreas shows; it goes back not just decades but centuries. And its impact has been decidedly double-edged; not only subverting U.S. laws but also helping to fuel America's evolution from a remote British colony to the world's pre-eminent superpower.
#160415 in Books 2014-06-10Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 7.30 x 1.50 x 10.10l; 2.00 #File Name: 0199324220416 pages
Review
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy JohnGood17 of 17 people found the following review helpful. Good but could have been Much Better!By B7PrinterI was elated to receive this book; and was impressed to see the care with which it was packed and shipped and its exceptional arrival condition. Strand is to be commended on its top-notched performance.I began reading it as soon as it arrived! "The American Revolution: A Historical Guidebook" has many of the characteristics described in the editorial reviews listed on . It is a good guide to 147 historic places of the Revolution. It is very 'readable' with narrative excerpts from many other good and some outstanding books on the subject. It is a travelers guide in that it has relatively modern addresses for the historic places; with descriptions of what transpired at the various locations. The list of authors with short descriptions of their respective works is very informative and useful. It also has a fairly succinct but reasonably comprehensive and useful timeline.It is physically larger than the average book; not quite coffee table status; but close; so it could easily accommodate large; high quality images; but it doesn't do that. The numerous documents; while purposely and understandably old are poorly reproduced; dark and nearly illegible; with no accompanying modern images of the text so that one can easily read and understand the contents. They actually detract from the book's quality and the reader's enjoyment. The same can be said for the historic maps. While it is always good to see the images of the original documents and maps; they should be accompanied by modern; legible versions for the benefit of the reader's understanding and enjoyment. These additions would have made the book a much more useful and enjoyable addition to an American Revolutionary War library.Weighing these strengths and deficiencies; the book still has good value; but in my humble opinion it is overpriced for that value. Consider A Guide to the Battles of the American Revolution by Savas and Dameron; along with A Battlefield Atlas of the American Revolution by Symonds for better maps and illustrations and descriptions of the battles and informative charts to give more context to a reader's understanding of the War and participants.0 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy motherof6haven't ready it yet; but is looks great
