this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2025
33 points (100.0% liked)
theory
872 readers
7 users here now
A community for in-depth discussion of books, posts that are better suited for !literature@www.hexbear.net will be removed.
The hexbear rules against sectarian posts or comments will be strictly enforced here.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
33
This is a weekly thread in which we read through books on and related to imperialism and geopolitics. Last week's thread is here.
The book we are currently reading through is Empire's Workshop by Greg Grandin. There are two main editions, to my knowledge: the original one with a yellow cover from 2006, and an updated version from 2021 with an orange cover. I am reading the latter version.
Please comment or message me directly if you wish to be pinged for this group, or if you no longer wish to be pinged.
This week, we will be reading Chapter 3.
Next week, we will be reading Chapter 4.
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I'm always on guard for the present-day parallels while reading through these books, and for this week's chapter, all I can really say is: imagine the present day US allowing countries around the world more political/economic sovereignty? Such a voluntary imperial decline wouldn't necessarily have to be all that terrible for everybody involved if it was managed - though a LOT of capitalists would still lose a LOT of money. Of course, such a hypothetical, while interesting to consider, isn't all that helpful as the US administration regardless of party seems to pick a different country each week to threaten with invasion or sanctions.