“One thing that the United States got really good at doing was basically replacing all colonial products with synthetic ones—swapping technology in for territory and replacing colonies with chemistry.”

How have synthetic chemistry and technology allowed the United States as an empire to cease its reliance on colonies? And what is the significance of recognizing the greater history of the empire—beyond the borders of its symbolic “logo map”?

In this episode, we welcome Daniel Immerwahr, a historian and the Bergen Evans Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University. His most recent book is How to Hide an Empire.

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// The musical offering featured in this episode is Lullaby by RVBY MY DEAR. //