Imagined Empires

Imagined Empires investigates the interest early American culture, and especially literature, took in South American civilisations. By exploring the works of Philip Freneau, Joel Barlow, William Prescott, Herman Melville and Walt Whitman, this 1999 book sheds light on national sovereignty, identity, and the development of an American history narrative.

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Imagined Empires, first published in 1999, demonstrates that early American culture, and in particular literature, took great interest in South American civilisations, especially the Incas and Aztecs, and in so doing made a statement about the role of the United States as an empire in the emerging political order of New World colonies and states. By examining the work of Philip Freneau, Joel Barlow, William Prescott, Herman Melville, and Walt Whitman, the long-contested concept of 'indigenous origins' is given expanded meaning beyond traditional critiques of American culture. Eric Wertheimer recovers the Incas and Aztecs in Anglo-American literature, and thus sheds new light on national sovereignty, identity and the development of an American history narrative.