America, Empire of Liberty: A New History

America, Empire of Liberty: A New History

by David Reynolds

David Reynolds will present a 90 part BBC Radio Four series on American history. It will be a personal interpretation, developing a broad argument about the dynamics of American history in three crucial themes: Empire, Liberty and Faith. America: Empire of Liberty, will be the unique book that emerges from this series, and Reynolds’s definitive work on the subject. The story begins in the 18th century, with an extended struggle among the rival empires of France, Britain and Spain for predominance in North America, which Britain eventually wins in the ‘first world war’ of 1756-63. Coming of age as a military power in its own right in World War Two, the United States establishes a global American empire while waging the Cold War and does not dismantle it thereafter. From its founding, the colonies and the new nation enjoy greater economic and political liberty than Europe, especially through cheap land. But shortage of labour (the flip side of cheap land) makes black slavery economically necessary. Liberty therefore becomes a crucial issue in the history of this nascent nation. ‘Whose liberty?’ is the big question in the Twentieth Century – causing often violent agitation about the rights of blacks. This debate then extends to women, homosexuals, guns, the unborn and multiculturalism. The driver behind the American way of life is so often its religious faith, derived from Calvinist Protestantism. Reynolds shows how it can be characterised by a providentialist sense of mission, so powerful in its reach it becomes the underlying evangelical ideology of America and its foreign policy, from Wilson to George W. Bush. This persuasive interpretation of the history of the superpower of our times will be required reading for years to come. 7/10/2009 == All episodes are in. The collection is now complete.


F:\America, Empire of Liberty\ ============================= America, Empire of Liberty (0001) - Lost Civilisations America, Empire of Liberty (0002) - Bearer of Death America, Empire of Liberty (0003) - Borderlands of the Spanish Superpower America, Empire of Liberty (0004) - New France Astride America's Heartland America, Empire of Liberty (0005) - English Planters America, Empire of Liberty (0006) - Faith and Freedom in New England America, Empire of Liberty (0007) - The Middle Colonies & the Melting Pot America, Empire of Liberty (0008) - Awakenings and Nightmares America, Empire of Liberty (0009) - The Battle for Empire America, Empire of Liberty (0010) - Taxes, Tea and Rights America, Empire of Liberty (0011) - Declaring Independence America, Empire of Liberty (0012) - Winning Independence America, Empire of Liberty (0013) - 'To Form a More Perfect Union' America, Empire of Liberty (0014) - Making the Republic Work America, Empire of Liberty (0015) - Founding a Capital America, Empire of Liberty (0016) - War and Terror America, Empire of Liberty (0017) - 'Remember the Ladies' America, Empire of Liberty (0018) - Jefferson's Western Empire America, Empire of Liberty (0019) - Victims of Liberty America, Empire of Liberty (0020) - The Second War of Independence America, Empire of Liberty (0021) - For Jackson & Democracy America, Empire of Liberty (0022) - A Christian Republic America, Empire of Liberty (0023) - The Indian Trail of Tears America, Empire of Liberty (0024) - Frontier Values America, Empire of Liberty (0025) - Let Us Conquer Space America, Empire of Liberty (0026) - The Arsenic of Mexico America, Empire of Liberty (0027) - Gold, God and the Little Giant America, Empire of Liberty (0028) - Paddies, Papists and Demon Drink America, Empire of Liberty (0029) - Slaves, Masters and the Slave Power America, Empire of Liberty (0030) - A House Divided America, Empire of Liberty - (0031) - The Ninety-Day War America, Empire of Liberty - (0032) - The Killers Take Command America, Empire of Liberty - (0033) - Forever Free America, Empire of Liberty - (0034) - A New Nation America, Empire of Liberty - (0035) - War Behind the Lines America, Empire of Liberty - (0036) - The Passing of the Dead America, Empire of Liberty - (0037) - Dead States, New Birth America, Empire of Liberty - (0038) - Reunion but not Reconstruction 28-01-09 America, Empire of Liberty - (0039) - New South, Old Ways America, Empire of Liberty - (0040) - War and Memory America, Empire of Liberty - (0041) - Big Business America, Empire of Liberty - (0042) - Made in America America, Empire of Liberty - (0043) - The Cities - America's Pride and Shame America, Empire of Liberty - (0044) - The Farmers and Workers Revolt America, Empire of Liberty - (0045) - Huddled Masses, Savage Hordes America, Empire of Liberty - (0046) Politics and Progress America, Empire of Liberty - (0047) - Roosevelt and Reform America, Empire of Liberty - (0048) - The Taste of Empire America, Empire of Liberty - (0049) - The Wild West America, Empire of Liberty - (0050) - Fun and God America, Empire of Liberty - (0051) - Too Proud to Fight America, Empire of Liberty - (0052) - A World Safe for Democracy America, Empire of Liberty - (0053) - The Lost Peace America, Empire of Liberty - (0054) - 100 Percent American America, Empire of Liberty - (0055) - The Jazz Age Hits Main Street America, Empire of Liberty - (0056) - From Boom to Bust America, Empire of Liberty - (0057) - New Deal America, Empire of Liberty - (0058) - A War for the Survival of Democracy America, Empire of Liberty - (0059) - Floundering into War America, Empire of Liberty - (0060) - A Hell of A War America, Empire of Liberty - (0061) - Red or Dead America, Empire of Liberty - (0062) - A World Half-Slave, Half-Free America, Empire of Liberty - (0063) - The Suburban Republic America, Empire of Liberty - (0064) - Korea - The Cold War Turns Hot America, Empire of Liberty - (0065) - Defended to Death America, Empire of Liberty - (0066) - The Back of the Bus America, Empire of Liberty - (0067) - And We Shall Overcome America, Empire of Liberty - (0068) - Black Power America, Empire of Liberty - (0069) - Women's Liberation America, Empire of Liberty - (0070) - War on Poverty America, Empire of Liberty - (0071) - Cuba - That Four Letter Word America, Empire of Liberty - (0072) - Vietnam - The Battleground of Freedom America, Empire of Liberty - (0073) - 1968 - Paralysis of a President America, Empire of Liberty - (0074) - Vietnam - Peace With Honour America, Empire of Liberty - (0075) - Watergate and the Imperial Presidency America, Empire of Liberty - (0076) - America in Retreat America, Empire of Liberty - (0077) - A Constitutional Abortion America, Empire of Liberty - (0078) - The Silent Majority Finds Its Voice America, Empire of Liberty - (0079) - Putting God Back into Politics America, Empire of Liberty - (0080) - Keeping Faith America, Empire of Liberty - (0081) - The Acting President America, Empire of Liberty - (0082) - Reagan and the Evil Empire America, Empire of Liberty - (0083) - The Information Revolution America, Empire of Liberty - (0084) - Tear Down This Wall America, Empire of Liberty - (0085) - A New World Order America, Empire of Liberty - (0086) - Sole Superpower, Edgy Americans America, Empire of Liberty - (0087) - Multiculturalism or Disintegration America, Empire of Liberty - (0088) - America is Under Attack America, Empire of Liberty - (0089) - Iraq and the Axis of Evil America, Empire of Liberty - (0090) - To Shape an Uncertain Destiny America, Empire of Liberty Omnibus - (0001) America, Empire of Liberty Omnibus - (0002) America, Empire of Liberty Omnibus - (0003) America, Empire of Liberty Omnibus - (0004) America, Empire of Liberty Omnibus - (0005) America, Empire of Liberty Omnibus - (0006) America, Empire of Liberty Omnibus - (0007) America, Empire of Liberty Omnibus - (0008) America, Empire of Liberty Omnibus - (0009) America, Empire of Liberty Omnibus - (0010) America, Empire of Liberty Omnibus - (0011) America, Empire of Liberty Omnibus - (0012) America, Empire of Liberty Omnibus - (0013) America, Empire of Liberty Omnibus - (0014) America, Empire of Liberty Omnibus - (0015) America, Empire of Liberty Omnibus - 0016 America, Empire of Liberty Omnibus - 0017 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Total 0 folder(s); 107 file(s) Total files size: 526 MB; 525620 KB; 538235244 Bytes ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^