This fascinating study sheds new light on antebellum America's notorious "filibusters--the freebooters and adventurers who organized or participated in armed invasions of nations with whom the United States was formally at peace. Offering the first full-scale analysis of the filibustering movement; Robert May relates the often-tragic stories of illegal expeditions into Cuba; Mexico; Ecuador; Nicaragua; and other Latin American countries and details surprising numbers of aborted plots; as well. May investigates why thousands of men joined filibustering expeditions; how they were financed; and why the U.S. government had little success in curtailing them. Surveying antebellum popular media; he shows how the filibustering phenomenon infiltrated the American psyche in newspapers; theater; music; advertising; and literature. Condemned abroad as pirates; frequently in language strikingly similar to modern American denunciations of foreign terrorists; the filibusters were often celebrated at home as heroes who epitomized the spirit of Manifest Destiny.May concludes by exploring the national consequences of filibustering; arguing that the practice inflicted lasting damage on U.S. relations with foreign countries and contributed to the North-South division over slavery that culminated in the Civil War.
#1333739 in Books The University of North Carolina Press 2001-11-26 2001-11-26Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.22 x .73 x 6.34l; 1.01 #File Name: 0807849685296 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Exploration of little known historyBy EastmanwellsThe Irish immigrated to the South as well as the North in the 19th century; and negotiated a wide variety of conditions in urban and rural settings to make their way. They established a large community in New Orleans; where they influenced the accent and culture. As immigrant laborers; they were exploited in the dangerous work of building and maintaining levees on the Mississippi; for which slaveholders did not want to risk their "property" - the lives of enslaved African Americans. The Irish also got involved in politics and all the issues of the day; from their own point of view.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The Irish in the South is outstanding history . . .By Kindle CustomerDavid T. Gleeson has crafted a compelling history of the immigrant Irish who settled in the Cotton South during the decades following the War of 1812 and the post Irish famine years immediately before the Civil War. While not always achieving their immediate goals of both religious as well as ethnic tolerance from their sometimes slave holding neighbors; especially those with a Ulster Scots heritage; Gleeson is able to interweave Irish success as well as failure into a masterfully told history of the Irish in America.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Won't be disappointed.By CustomerBeautifully written and well worth reading!
