The True Flag

Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire

By: Stephen Kinzer

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

The best-selling author of Overthrow and The Brothers brings to life the forgotten political debate that set America's interventionist course in the world for the 20th century and beyond.

How should the United States act in the world? Americans cannot decide. Sometimes we burn with righteous anger, launching foreign wars and deposing governments. Then we retreat - until the cycle begins again.

No matter how often we debate this question, none of what we say is original. Every argument is a pale shadow of the first and greatest debate, which erupted more than a century ago. Its themes resurface every time Americans argue whether to intervene in a foreign country.

Revealing a piece of forgotten history in The True Flag, Stephen Kinzer transports us to the dawn of the 20th century, when the United States first found itself with the chance to dominate faraway lands. That prospect thrilled some Americans. It horrified others. Their debate gripped the nation.

The country's best-known political and intellectual leaders took sides. Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, and William Randolph Hearst pushed for imperial expansion; Mark Twain, Booker T. Washington, and Andrew Carnegie preached restraint. Only once before - in the period when the United States was founded - have so many brilliant Americans so eloquently debated a question so fraught with meaning for all humanity.

All Americans, regardless of political perspective, can take inspiration from the titans who faced off in this epic confrontation. Their words are amazingly current. Every argument over America's role in the world grows from this one. It all starts here. This program includes an introduction read by the author.

©2017 Stephen Kinzer (P)2017 Macmillan Audio

War is bad

This is an important book for a look at how we got to the military industrial complex that is the current state of US foreign policy. William McKinley's assassination muted his effect on this result along with Teddy Roosevelt's hyper masculine militarism which overshadowed McKinley. Roosevelt ironically became bored with imperialism and moved past it later in his Presidency though his advocacy of it propelled him to the Presidency initially and inspired Mckinley's assassination.
I would have put four stars down if not for the strident condemnation of imperialism by the author which clouds his objectivity which should be the hallmark of historical writing

An Eye Opener!

A well researched, well written and well narrated history of Spanish American War and beyond.

Every American should read this book.

I had never heard of some of these events that are covered in this book. Fascinating.

A fascinating window into USA history

I thought I was familiar with American history. But the great debate between imperialists and anti-imperialists at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, was largely unknown to me. The author provides a detailed and fascinating exploration of that debate. Narrowly lost by the anti-imperialists, the outcome of that debate has shaped our 20th century American experience and is important to understand. I commend the book without reservation.

Please read.

Every American needs to read this book. I implore you to do so. As a bonus, it's also a very engaging story.

Not bad, but not great either.

Go into this book eyes open and expect to receive some editorializing if the broad and deep amount of history covered. The good: Kinzer brings in multiple primary sources and quotes (sometimes the chain of quotes gets tedious especially when plopped in and I forgot who was speaking). Also, it brings multiple perspectives or the economic and political landscape at the time. The bad: At times hard to follow and power through the massive amounts of quotes and commentary. Seemed a bit disorganized at times b/c it wasn’t always chronological but it didn’t follow specific characters in chapters either. The ugly: The title seemed more objective than the book ended up being. It’s always good to get multiple perspectives and sides to a story but this one was obviously anti-imperial/expansion. Again, not great, but not bad either.

Not what's on the tin

I enjoyed the book, but it wasn't really what it was advertised. The author does not really describe a debate between Roosevelt and Twain. Instead, the book is a discussion of the debate surrounding the Phillipines and whether or not to annex them. It was informative, but I was unsatisfied at the end because the author jumped around so much between Cuba, the Philippines, and other countries and between Henry Cabot Lodge, McKinley, and other political figures that the book suffered from a lack of focus.

Today's political atmosphere explained through History

When one takes a look at the beginnings of the policies that formed today's political climate, a greater understanding of our times can be achieved. Expansionism, Imperialism, or conquest beyond our current borders didn't just start with the latest Presidency. Looking at Teddy Roosevelt , the Spanish American War, the Philippine Insurrection, McKinley's assassination and other events of the period will help us see how America got where we are today.

Required to understand today's political world!

Kinzer lays out in detail the men and thinking that changed American foreign policy- and the world by consequence.
This book is both insightful and depressing in that it showcases how the same false premises are used time and again to justify military action as a means of economic growth.

Truly a book I'd want any member of Congress- and the citizens that vote for them- to read!

Starts off like Mark Twain, ends like Roosevelt

The book starts off amazingly, but ends with the same old browbeating.

In the beginning it's thoughtful and detailed with the nuances of turn of the 20th century activity.

But at the end we got a very broad brush overview of the sins of our fathers that I've heard a million times.

If you want to write a book about each of those conflicts with the same depth as you did this book, please do, until then.. Cut that chapter.