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Book Summary and Reviews of The Imperial Cruise by James Bradley

The Imperial Cruise by James Bradley

The Imperial Cruise

A Secret History of Empire and War

by James Bradley

  • Readers' Rating (5):
  • Published:
  • Nov 2009, 400 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

In 1905 President Teddy Roosevelt dispatched Secretary of War William Howard Taft on the largest U.S. diplomatic mission in history to Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, China, and Korea. Roosevelt's glamorous twenty-one year old daughter Alice served as mistress of the cruise, which included senators and congressmen. On this trip, Taft concluded secret agreements in Roosevelt's name.

In 2005, a century later, James Bradley traveled in the wake of Roosevelt's mission and discovered what had transpired in Honolulu, Tokyo, Manila, Beijing and Seoul.

In 1905, Roosevelt was bully-confident and made secret agreements that he though would secure America's westward push into the Pacific. Instead, he lit the long fuse on the Asian firecrackers that would singe America's hands for a century.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"[A] stridently disapproving study of early 20th-century U.S. policy in Asia... Ironically, his view of Asian history, like Roosevelt’s, denies agency to the Asians themselves." - Publishers Weekly

This information about The Imperial Cruise was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Grandpa Timbo

Racism As A Root Cause Of WW2
This is a very well written book which displays the author's deep knowledge and understanding of our history as well as the mindset prevalent in turn of the century America (1880 - 1915). A fascinating read that moves right along and any serious student of US history would be well advised to read it.

S. Kent Troy

But is it true?
What a huge disappointment. the first thirty pages with its less than thinly veiled attempt to link Roosevelt with the Aryan beliefs of the Nazis is just plain ghastly. having become quite a Roosevelt fan over the past three years, I'm 75, I am appalled by the lack of scholarship and knowledge displayed in the book. Roosevelt, a man who crowded at least three lifetimes into his brief sixty years deserved much better. He to me, grandson of two Eastern Pennsylvania Coal Miners, demonstrated traits that I have both developed myself and have encouraged in my children and grandchildren. Summed up they are to get to KNOW the people, work with your hands among the people, live with the people, share the joy and heartbreak of the people. Then and only then can you speak for the people and Theodore Roosevelt did just that. he was a man, of the people, not just of his time but a man who looked to the future and what could be. Robert Kennedy once stole a line, "Some men see things as they are, and say why. I dream of things that never were, and say why not." Perhaps it was stolen from President Roosevelt.

atlcoley

left wing revisionism
Its a shame when you realize 25 pages into a book how distorted and biased the author is toward his country. The quotes and sources are suspect and much just does not stand up to historical review. I suspect the rest of his books have the same mission-distortion for the left.

Wayne Violette

Why the hate?
This book has a lot of facts in it but the anger of the author toward the United States and his guilt for being white overshadows everything else.

Andrew

The Imperial Cruise
Your biased opinion about America and its past is obviously from a real hate of America, your way of branding us as Aryans and murders akin to the Nazi is beyond the pale. Why do you hate America so?? Your sources are vague at best and you have drawn your own conclusions based on your political bias. Don't waste good time and money on this book unless you are out of toilet paper.

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Author Information

James Bradley Author Biography

James Bradley is the fourth child of flagraiser John "Doc" Bradley. Raised in Wisconsin, Bradley studied at the University of Notre Dame, Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan and graduated with a degree in East Asian History from the University of Wisconsin. Bradley has vast experience writing and producing corporate films and corporate meetings; he has traveled the world, living and working in more than 40 countries for nearly a decade. Bradley has run companies in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. He has jumped out of airplanes at 15,000 feet, scuba-dived in deep waters worldwide, trekked to Mount Everest's base camp and walked among lions in Africa. He is an avid reader of history, enjoys discovering exotic cuisine, cliff diving, golfing and ...

... Full Biography
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