Empire and Liberty

"Empire and Liberty explores this oxymoron and its centrality to American identity by historicizing New York’s Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty. Vanessa Cook combines rigorous research with fluid exposition to tell an original and imaginative story that has been hiding in plain sight. It is a story of inspiration and tragedy. It is a story that must be read, now more than ever." - Richard H. Immerman - author of Empire for Liberty: A History of American Imperialism from Benjamin Franklin to Paul Wolfowitz

"Cook’s Empire and Liberty takes a leading place among the refreshing new histories of monuments and their fascinating role in American politics and culture. Her book offers a sweeping account of how the themes of empire and liberty weave throughout US history—sometimes clashing and sometimes enhancing each other. An engaging and enlightening history!" - Elizabeth Borgwardt - author of A New Deal for the World

“Vaneesa Cook’s captivating and beautifully written history of New York City’s two most iconic structures unmasks the great American contradiction, which Thomas Jefferson unintentionally expressed when he described a rapidly expanding United States as an Empire of Liberty: Empire is a pretty lousy conduit to freedom.”— Andrew Hartman, author of Karl Marx in America

“American history is a continuing struggle to define the meaning of liberty and empire for each generation. Vaneesa Cook paints a beautiful and revealing picture of the different ways Americans have imagined what their country can be. She builds her narrative around two common national symbols, and she shows how they can help us imagine a new America today. This is a book that every citizen who cares about democracy should read.” —Jeremi Suri, author of Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy