At the end of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, U.S. territorial expansion went way beyond what we now call the lower 48 states. At one point or another, Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands were all under U.S. control. All this week, we'll explore this history on our series, "The Legacy of American Empire."
Today we spend the hour with Bruce Cumings, a chair of the history department at the University of Chicago. His 500-page tome, Dominion from Sea to Sea: Pacific Ascendancy and American Power, connects the history of our Western expansion with our Pacific history and the rise of American military supremacy.