The Business of Empire

United Fruit, Race, and U.S. Expansion in Central America

Nonfiction, History, Americas, Central America, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Discrimination & Race Relations, United States, 20th Century
Cover of the book The Business of Empire by Jason M. Colby, Cornell University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jason M. Colby ISBN: 9780801462726
Publisher: Cornell University Press Publication: October 27, 2011
Imprint: Cornell University Press Language: English
Author: Jason M. Colby
ISBN: 9780801462726
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Publication: October 27, 2011
Imprint: Cornell University Press
Language: English

The link between private corporations and U.S. world power has a much longer history than most people realize. Transnational firms such as the United Fruit Company represent an earlier stage of the economic and cultural globalization now taking place throughout the world. Drawing on a wide range of archival sources in the United States, Great Britain, Costa Rica, and Guatemala, Colby combines "top-down" and "bottom-up" approaches to provide new insight into the role of transnational capital, labor migration, and racial nationalism in shaping U.S. expansion into Central America and the greater Caribbean. The Business of Empire places corporate power and local context at the heart of U.S. imperial history.

In the early twentieth century, U.S. influence in Central America came primarily in the form of private enterprise, above all United Fruit. Founded amid the U.S. leap into overseas empire, the company initially depended upon British West Indian laborers. When its black workforce resisted white American authority, the firm adopted a strategy of labor division by recruiting Hispanic migrants. This labor system drew the company into increased conflict with its host nations, as Central American nationalists denounced not only U.S. military interventions in the region but also American employment of black immigrants. By the 1930s, just as Washington renounced military intervention in Latin America, United Fruit pursued its own Good Neighbor Policy, which brought a reduction in its corporate colonial power and a ban on the hiring of black immigrants. The end of the company's system of labor division in turn pointed the way to the transformation of United Fruit as well as the broader U.S. empire.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The link between private corporations and U.S. world power has a much longer history than most people realize. Transnational firms such as the United Fruit Company represent an earlier stage of the economic and cultural globalization now taking place throughout the world. Drawing on a wide range of archival sources in the United States, Great Britain, Costa Rica, and Guatemala, Colby combines "top-down" and "bottom-up" approaches to provide new insight into the role of transnational capital, labor migration, and racial nationalism in shaping U.S. expansion into Central America and the greater Caribbean. The Business of Empire places corporate power and local context at the heart of U.S. imperial history.

In the early twentieth century, U.S. influence in Central America came primarily in the form of private enterprise, above all United Fruit. Founded amid the U.S. leap into overseas empire, the company initially depended upon British West Indian laborers. When its black workforce resisted white American authority, the firm adopted a strategy of labor division by recruiting Hispanic migrants. This labor system drew the company into increased conflict with its host nations, as Central American nationalists denounced not only U.S. military interventions in the region but also American employment of black immigrants. By the 1930s, just as Washington renounced military intervention in Latin America, United Fruit pursued its own Good Neighbor Policy, which brought a reduction in its corporate colonial power and a ban on the hiring of black immigrants. The end of the company's system of labor division in turn pointed the way to the transformation of United Fruit as well as the broader U.S. empire.

More books from Cornell University Press

Cover of the book A Fight for the Soul of Public Education by Jason M. Colby
Cover of the book Out of Oakland by Jason M. Colby
Cover of the book China's Water Warriors by Jason M. Colby
Cover of the book Democracy and Displacement in Colombia's Civil War by Jason M. Colby
Cover of the book Antifundamentalism in Modern America by Jason M. Colby
Cover of the book The Fleeting Promise of Art by Jason M. Colby
Cover of the book 41 by Jason M. Colby
Cover of the book The Order of Genocide by Jason M. Colby
Cover of the book Christians and Their Many Identities in Late Antiquity, North Africa, 200-450 CE by Jason M. Colby
Cover of the book Agricultural Product Prices by Jason M. Colby
Cover of the book Rochdale Village by Jason M. Colby
Cover of the book The Avila of Saint Teresa by Jason M. Colby
Cover of the book Targeting Civilians in War by Jason M. Colby
Cover of the book Chaos Bound by Jason M. Colby
Cover of the book The Gumilev Mystique by Jason M. Colby
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy