Summary

This section encompasses the seventh through ninth chapters of Part I: The Colonial Empire. In chapter seven, “Outside the Charmed Circle,” Immerwahr describes the American arrival in Puerto Rico, where crowds actually cheered for them. Immerwahr focuses on the figure of Pedro Albizu Campos, who would later become one of the most prominent revolutionaries of the Puerto Rican liberation movement. In this chapter, Albizu Campos attends Harvard Law School and joins the U.S. Army in the 1910s. Immerwahr draws a distinction between the British Empire Day and the American holiday, “Flag Day,” which was instituted in 1916 by Woodrow Wilson. Unlike Roosevelt, Wilson was a staunch anti-imperialist and sought to roll back the country’s empire. At the same time, Wilson was a racist who regarded nonwhites as “children” (116).

Many of the world’s colonized peoples sought to gain Wilson’s favor and...