Summary of Empire as a Way of Life - Assignment Example

As a means of understanding such a concept from an economic standpoint, the author details how the United States has used its power of empire through the decades as a means of extracting valuable raw materials from less powerful nations and nations under its ultimate influence. However, the extraction of cheap raw materials in and of itself is not enough to understand the full extent of how empire affects the nation. Appleman notes that the ultimate reflection of economic power defined from empire is the way that the nation acts towards the markets with which it seeks to sell its goods.

This of course can be seen in the way the United States has behaved historically and even currently.Similarly, the article goes on to discuss the way that empire fundamentally affects the world view of the citizens of the imperial power. Naturally, this is done in a number of ways. The author discusses the role that media and specifically television can play in helping to create what is ultimately a type of alter-reality in which the citizen lives; fully believing that all of the benefits of freedom, low cost consumer goods, and a litany of other factors are merely the result of good fortune and a good model of governance rather than the direct byproducts of a powerful.

From an analysis of the article and a consideration of its main topics and discussion, it has been understood by this reviewer that the author has perfectly described the system as it has and continues to exist within the United States. Although it may not be comfortable to think of the extravagance, cheap goods, and ultimate freedom that the American lifestyle engenders within the context of imperial conquest and prowess, the fact of the matter is that there is no more appropriate way to view the system.

Moreover, a greater understanding of the determinants to American power as well as the prime motivation and constructs for the culture as it has grown and continues to develop does not exist. In this particular way, the given piece has helped to open the eyes of this author with regards to the full level and extent to which the concept and applications of empire affect nearly each and every aspect of both material and cultural/societal life within the United States.Similarly, another powerful argument that the author raises is with regards to the way in which American imperialism did not ultimately start with the Mexican American War as so many others historians and political scientists have pointed to.

Rather, it has been within the very fiber of the American consciousness since first settlement took place. This is an important construct due to the fact that the reader should note that such a concept ties in directly with the idea of conquest and domination of the territory. Manifest Destiny, the American Civil War, the attacks on the Barbary Coast, and the forcible opening of Japan by Admiral Perry all fall into place and make a much clearer and complete sense to the reader within the context of such an understanding.

In this way, the author truly interjects a level of analysis in seeking to detail