How to Hide an Empire: America beyond its borders - an empire that hides in plain sight

Daniel Immerwahr

Aug 2026 · Vintage Digital · Narrated by Luis Moreno

Audiobook

17 hr 25 min

Unabridged

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About this audiobook

A revelatory history of expansion, influence and the making of American power.

Historian Daniel Immerwahr exposes a forgotten truth: the United States has always been an empire. From Puerto Rico to Guam, the Philippines to a network of global military bases, How to Hide an Empire uncovers how U.S. territories and influence extend far beyond its 50 states.

Blending archival research with witty storytelling, Immerwahr reveals the surprising ways empire has shaped American politics, culture and identity. Eye-opening and deeply relevant, this book forces readers to reconsider what it means to be “American” - and how power really works in the modern world.

‘Wry, readable and often astonishing’ New York Times

A revelatory history of expansion, influence and the making of American power. Historian Daniel Immerwahr exposes a forgotten truth: the United States has always been an empire. From Puerto Rico to Guam, the Philippines to a network of global military bases, How to Hide an Empire uncovers how U.S...

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About the author

Daniel Immerwahr is Bergen Evans Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University, where he focuses on US and global history. He is the author of How to Hide an Empire: A Short History of the Greater United States, which won the Robert H. Ferrell Prize and was a New York Times’ critics best book of the year, and Thinking Small: The United States and the Lure of Community Development, which won the Organization of American Historians’ Merle Curti Award. He has written for The New Yorker, Atlantic, n+1, Slate, Dissent, and other publications.

Daniel Immerwahr is Bergen Evans Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University, where he focuses on US and global history. He is the author of How to Hide an Empire: A Short History of the Greater United States, which won the Robert H. Ferrell Prize and was a New York Times’ critics best...

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