The United States has been described by many of its foreign and domestic critics as an "empire." Providing a wide-ranging analysis of the United States as a territorial, imperial power from its foundation to the present day, this book explores the United States' acquisition or long-term occupation of territories through a chronological perspective. It begins by exploring early continental expansion, such as the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803, and traces US imperialism through to the controversial ongoing presence of US forces at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The...