Summary

This section encompasses the twentieth chapter through twenty-second chapters of Part II: The Pointillist Empire, as well as the Conclusion. In Chapter 20, “Power is Sovereignty, Mister Bond,” Immerwahr ponders the idea of attaining world domination from an island, an idea that he claims was first popularized with Ian Fleming’s Bond series. In this chapter, Immerwahr describes the real-life origins of the Bond legend, including Fleming’s own involvement in the British special forces. Immerwahr connects this cultural icon to the United States’ plans of acquiring a number of islands, which they used as military bases and outposts. One such example is the Swan Islands in the Caribbean, where the U.S. government set up a fifty-thousand-watt radio transmitter. Later, the United States began using these islands to test nuclear weapons.

In Chapter 21, “Baselandia,” Immerwahr describes how the U.S. used Japanese land...