Manifest Destiny's Underworld: Filibustering in Antebellum America

Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002. First printing. Deep blue buckram (cloth) boards, light gilt metallic spine titles, lt. shelf wear. Pages fine; no writing. Manila endpapers. Twenty-one photos, images throughout and five pages of maps. Bind fine; hinges intact. Dust wrapper, fine; protected in new clear sleeve. Heavy book craftsmanship. Rare near fine first edition in same wrapper. This fascinating study sheds light on antebellum (pre-civil war) America's notorious filibusters - the freebooters (bucaneers, pirates, etc.) and mercenary adventurers who organized or participated in armed invasions of nations with whom the United States was formally at peace. Offering the first full analysis of the movement, Robert May relates the often-tragic stories of illegal expeditions into Cuba, Mexico, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and other Latin American countries and details a surprising number of aborted plots. Investigates why thousands joined filibustering expeditions, how they were financed, and why the U.S. government had little success in curtailing them. Surveying antebellum popular media, he shows how the phenomenon infiltrated the American psyche in newspapers, theater, music, advertising, and literature. Condemned abroad as pirates, frequently in language strikingly similar to modern American denunciations of foreign terrorists, the irregular military adventurers were often celebrated at home as heroes who epitomized the spirit of Manifest Destiny expansion. May concludes by exploring the national consequences of filibustering, arguing that the practice inflicted lasting damage on relations with foreign countries and contributed to the North-South division over slavery that culminated in the Civil War. 106 pages of detailed notes for each page, chapter. Also, includes twenty-one page index. 426 pages. Insured post.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" Tall.