< div> < div> < div> < b> & #8220; Grandin has always been a brilliant historian; now he uses his detective skills in a book that is absolutely crucial to understanding our present.& #8221; < br> & #8212; Naomi Klein, author of < i> No Logo< /i> < /b> < /div> < div> < i> < /i> & nbsp; < /div> < div> < div> < div> The British and Roman empires are often invoked as precedents to the Bush administration& #8217; s aggressive foreign policy. But America& #8217; s imperial identity was actually shaped much closer to home. In a brilliant excavation of long-obscured history, < i> Empire& #8217; s Workshop< /i> shows how Latin America has functioned as a proving ground for American strategies and tactics overseas. Historian Greg Grandin follows the United States& #8217; imperial operations from Jefferson& #8217; s aspirations for an & #8220; empire of liberty& #8221; in Cuba and Spanish Florida to Reagan& #8217; s support for brutally oppressive but U.S.-friendly regimes in Central America. He traces the origins of Bush& #8217; s current policies back to Latin America, where many of the administration& #8217; s leading lights first embraced the deployment of military power to advance free market economics and enlisted the evangelical movement in support of their ventures.< /div> < div> < br> With much of Latin America now in open rebellion against U.S. domination, Grandin asks: If Washington failed to bring prosperity and democracy to Latin America& #8212; its own backyard & #8220; workshop& #8221; & #8212; what are the chances it will do so for theworld?< /div> < /div> < /div> < /div> < /div>

Greg Grandin, associate professor of Latin American history at New York University, is the author of The Last Colonial Massacre and the award-

winning The Blood of Guatemala. A Guggenheim fellow, Grandin has served on the United Nations Truth Commission investigating the Guatemalan civil war and has written for Harper’s, The Nation, and The New York Times.