Though I studied U.S. foreign relations as a doctoral student and read countless books about 'American empire'--the wars, the coups, the meddling in foreign affairs--nobody ever expected me to know even the most elementary facts about the territories. They just didn't feel important. It wasn't until I traveled to Manila, researching something else entirely, that it clicked."
-- Narrator (Introduction: The Logo Map )

Importance: In this passage Immerwahr breaks from his typically impersonal and objective tone to describe his own personal relationship with the material that the book covers. He admits that he, like many of his readers, was once ignorant on matters of American imperial history. This admission is especially shocking given Immerwahr's exceptional education.

The islands had no indigenous populations and, at the time, no strategic value. They tended to be remote, rocky, and rainless--poor places to grow things on. But that didn't matter. They had the one thing that everyone in the nineteenth...
-- Narrator (3: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Guano, But Were Afraid to Ask )